Kathal ki Dum Biryani!!

Do you struggle with the word Biryani? Do you think that you need to buy the ready made Biryani Masala to make a proper biryani? For me both these answers are a straight No. Read on if you wanna join my club.

Kachche Kathal ki Biryani

Almost 400 gms of cut and cleaned Echor / Kachcha Kathal / unripe Jack fruit. Boil it in water along with some salt and turmeric, till its 50 % done. Using a pressure cooker may not be a good idea.

7 onions chopped and fried till brown

About 300 gms good long grain rice, soaked for 1 hour

Masala For the Rice

2 tbsp Oil

A nice mix of whole Garam Masala-

·       1 star Anise

·       1 cinnamon Stick

·       2 to 3 cloves

·       3 to 4 Green cardamom

·       ½ black cardamom

·       2 big leaves of tez patta (bay leaf)

·       1 tsp of Shah jeera

A lot of water and salt to taste.

Masala for the Jackfruit

2 heaped tbsp curd

3 tbsp oil

All the Whole Garam masala as mentioned up for the rice preparation.

3 tbsp Ginger and garlic paste

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp Coriander powder

½ tsp Cumin powder

½ tsp Chilly powder

A few shakes of freshly grated nutmeg and cinnamon separately.

2 big pinches of cashew nuts and 2 more of raisins

A big handful each of chopped mint and coriander leaves

3 slit green chillies, or to taste

For Assembling

2 tbsp ghee                                                                    

2 steel containers with lid

1 small pinch of real kesar and warm milk

Procedure-

During biryani making, its best to keep all ingredients out and handy. Also this same process could be used for any other Dum cooked Meat or veggie biryani.

First in a kettle boil a litre of water.

Get a big sauce pot and put it on heat. We would make the whole spice tadka for the rice first, before proceeding for other stuff.

Pour in a few tbsp of oil. Once it heats up, drop in all the whole spices; and on low flame cook till it is fragrant.

Carefully pour in the hot water on the tadka and salt it generously. Add some more cold water and bring it up to a rolling boil before adding the soaked rice. Cook the soaked rice on a rolling boil for 5 to 7 minutes. It should be about 50 to 60 percent done. Drain it out on a plate and let it air dry. I mostly just take my spider ladle and drain out the rice from the starchy water onto a bowl. Then I quickly topple it out on a flat plate and let the rice air dry for a few minutes. Repeat with the remaining rice. The second batch of rice should be kept to air dry on a separate plate.

So by now, you have fried onion kept in one corner . Rice half cooked and air drying in another.

Lets start making the jackfruit masal now.

In a wok/kadhai heat some oil. Once hot, temper in the whole spices along with a sole red chilly. Wait for it to get fragrant.

Add in the cashew nuts and raisins and fry them lightly in this flavour ful oil on low to medim heat.

Now beat the curd with all the dry masala powder, and set it aside.

Now one after another, we would add different elements to the wok and get it frying.

·       The first to go would be a big pinch of fried onion along with the ginger garlic paste. Fry till we get rid of the raw smell of ginger and garlic.

·       The next would be the curd mix along with all dry spices. Cook it till oil separates out of the masala.

·       Now would be perfect to add 2 big pinches each of mint and coriander. Add in the green chilies too for an added kick. 

·       Adjust salt and sugar and this stage. And, add in our already cooked jackfruit to pan fry in the masala and absorb its flavour.

Taste again for salt and sugar, and adjust accordingly. 2 big pinches of sugar was good enough for me. you can even omit sugar, but I highly recommend adding it to lessen the tang of homemade curd.

Now its time for the assembly.

·       You have the jack fruit prepared.

·       You have onions fried.

·       You have half cooked rice

·       You have chopped coriander and mint ready.

·       This would be the right time to create the saffron mix. Just warm up a few tbsp of milk in microwave and drop in a few strands of kesar on to it. Let it bloom and get flavourful.

Now all you need is to set up a steaming station- gas or electric. 

Generously put ghee on the steel containers you choose to steam the biryani in. Put a thin layer of the most uncooked rice of the lot you have made earlier, in the bottom of the pan. Top it all with jackfruit masala. Now an even layer of onions needs to be followed with an even layer of chopped herbs. Top it all with rice once again.

This is where you need to be creative. Get a proper layer of fried onion on top. Now another generous sprinkle of herbs. Now get that saffron milk and spoon it all over the while rice. 

Close the lid, and let it steam for 30 minutes.

And when you open that lid once done, you will be transported to another world it self. Biryani is a soul food, which is made and perfected with love. Make it to believe it.

Cheers!!

Lets talk vegetarianism today...

What is vegetables to you judgmental vegetarian? Its just food, right? Then why so judgemental about other’s kind of food?

And you Non-vegetarian lover, no one asked you to smile away. You too are as judgmental to the vegetarian crowd as they are to you. 

Basically, I am not here to solve this tussle. But I am here to understand humanity from a different angle all together. Before all my gyaan pours in, note that I have an amazing recipe of Kachche Kathal ki Dum Biryani down after the post. Do make it a point to read that at least.

Now food is what we need to survive. Yes, survival makes us selfish. Yes, humans were created to be socially selfish. What we didn’t understand was the fine line in the middle which was defined as responsibility. Today, its easier to bombard your judgement on others about their choices, just because its different from yours. I have personally felt it from many vegetarians across communities who were so unreceptive to other’s choice. And by no means am I here to praise non-vegetarian sentiments. I am only here to talk about a choice of lifestyle and the fact that people need to respect it even if it is different than others’.

Vegetarians, you are killing too-

Yes, you read it right. The day you stop buying things with roots to your house, you may absolve from calling yourself a killer. But while chewing on a carrot stick and digging into a spinach salad; you are killing too. And at times, you even make sprouts, to kill it the very next day. How insensitive, you killed an infant which would have become a full-blown plant if you gave it that chance.

See, I get it. You feel we are butchers. But is it too much to ask that we are different and what you think may not be what I am thinking. I like meat and I have it. Doesn’t mean I don’t like carrots or tomatoes. I like myself and I nourish myself to the best of my ability. This is all we need to understand. As every ‘I’ is different, every ‘ability’ would also be different. All we need is to keep a responsibility tab on our ability and we are good to go. I request you to be just a bit more receptive. Yes, animals are animals, but the one you are speaking to is a human with feelings. Be truly responsible to his or her feelings first.  

Non-vegetarians, stop being wasteful-

I have noticed that most of the lavish households in this world don’t feel a thing when they toss out that perfectly edible offal down in the trash can. Please respect the food. Understand your need, and buy only what you need. Don’t stock up just for a good discount. Instead donate it to a needy right then and there. In our supermarket culture, discounts speak. But just respect it enough to not waste.

In early days, sausages and dry fish were invented to keep wastage at the minimal level, and to stock up for the winter which was harsh. These were pure sentiments designed to pay homage to the life of that animal who was sacrificed to keep humans healthy. Sin is not killing, but being unrespectful to the purpose of the kill. Today, those pure sentiments are lost upon a flimsy coat of civilization. When you get something so easily, its much easier to forget the real cost behind that.

Cow Vigilantism… Really??

Don’t even get me started on this point. I mean what was the government thinking while banning cow slaughter is beyond my understanding of un-discriminatory India. ‘Gaay hamari Mata Hai’ – ‘Cows are our mother’- a direct translation of the phrase. And upon asking a reason for this phrase, pat comes the answer- ‘because it gives us milk.’ But did you forget how much you grew up on buffalo milk? Or the pristine white clarified butter that was added to your vegetables? You know whose milk that came from- our humble buffalo. And still so discriminatory towards that big black beauty? I feel this is to do with India’s obsession with anything white. Too much I say!!!!

And even the fact about the milk production. Don’t you feel the only one supposed to drink that milk is the calf? Why are you bottling and selling it? When your mother, sister, wife birthed; was the milk extracted to feed a population? I am just asking the question without meaning harm. Don't you feel its time that you questioned this ban too?

Respect greenery-

The bigger issue to solve in today’s India is that every Indian needs to respect the green trees that surrounds us. I am educated enough to understand cutting trees for development is needed. I mean wider roads would solve many traffic jams. Or an extra residential complex may help lower the sky rocketing prices of flats. But all I am saying is for every Indian to rise up to this pollution with a solution that is as simple as can be. All we need to do is plant 15 plants in and outside our houses. That's all. Just plant flowers or herbs or vegetables, and keep them alive. Don’t be afraid of the mosquitoes or earth worm that they might get into your house. Yes, to start with they would; but eventually it is only going to better the situation that we are in right now. Imagine if all the four flats in every floor of a 12 floored society, planted 15 plants for every bedroom they had. Do the maths and then you would know. We would be able to purify our air much faster than an electronic air purifier. Plant more, grow more and buy less veggies should be the new urban mantra. 

And the most controversial for the last – Understand Halal before passing a judgement over it.

Yes I am Hindu, and yet I am telling you that I love to buy Halal as far as my meat and poultry needs go. Halal doesn’t mean an inhuman way to cut. It means that we are making sure that impurities run out and the meat is fit for consumption. Scientifically it is a better process for storage and safer to eat too. Ideologically too, these days most of the supermarkets make sure that the butchers stun the animals before the halal process begins. Understand the origin of this process. It has stemmed from a pure emotion of survival in a hot sunny dessert area. Survival of healthy humans in a far flung dessert area with limited water supply was tough. And yet, they survived. Truly, Necessity is the mother of all inventions!!

This article is written with a pure intention to ask relevant questions about our choices. In no way am I to favor one to another forms of eating habit. Both these eating habits (veg and non-veg) makes for a balanced country. So literally a balance is all we should crave for.

Kachchi Kathal ki Dum Biryani-

Recipe and ingredients on a click here.

Cheers!!

PICNIC 101 - Cinnamon Rolls & Pizza, Packed!

Last week, it was raining in Gurgaon!! Rains in winter is not a rare occurrence, in fact we were waiting for it, for some time. The rain ensures the cold stays. The cold ensures we go out for picnics for all of February! And what better than equipping yourself with a versatile recipe that makes you whip up batches of all different kinds of delicacies that tastes great when hot from the oven, or cool to room temperature. And I am teaching you three variations right here and now, but really the world your pickle. Go mad and play with the dough to your heart’s desire. It’s a full proof recipe, wherein I will put across many tips and tricks to get it right always!

Majorly the recipe is very simple. All we are doing is making an all APF dough, then dividing the dough enough to get various different forms of bread. I am making ½ of the dough in a  sweet form, while the other gets a savoury taste. Now this is a basic recipe I use pretty much always to make a host of other things, like hot cross buns or fruit bread or just simple white sandwich bread loaf. Its 100 % vegetarian, and we don’t use any eggs as well. The dough is simple to put together, all you need are the following ingredients-

INGREDIENTS

5 to 6 cups of Maida or All-purpose flour (APF)

500 ml of milk, lukewarm to touch

3 tsp of instant yeast

2 tsp of baking powder

2 tbsp of vinegar

3 tsp salt

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp olive oil

METHOD

In the lukewarm milk, add honey and mix well. Now sprinkle in the yeast and let it proof for some time till it awakens and is frothy and smells a lot like bread.

In another bowl, mix 4 cups of flour with salt and baking powder. Mix and keep it aside for the yeast to get frothy.

Now mix both liquid and dry ingredients, start mixing the dough. Once you can’t see much of liquid milk left in the bowl, add the vinegar and olive oil and another cup of flour. Mix and knead till you get a nice dough which is not very sticky, but soft and supple, and springs back on touch. This is the time when you preheat the oven for 2 mins and then promptly switch it off.

Now take greased bowl, keep the ball of dough in the bowl and cover the top well with olive oil. Now take it inside the warm, but switched off oven and let it proof and come to life for 2 to 3 hours. The oven really helps in giving a warm climate for the dough to rise, in this cold winter day. And trust me, it would do better than the closed cupboard you used to use earlier. Trust me on that.

Now once the dough rises and proofs, you have a decision to make. I made half of it into cinnamon rolls and other half into a large pizza, which was good enough to feed an army of 4-year olds.

CINNAMON ROLLS!!

½ a stick of butter in room temperature

2 tsp of cinnamon

4 tbsp or more of brown sugar

A tsp of vanilla extract

Mix all of these together in a bowl and set it aside to marry each other.

Roll out the dough in a rectangle, which is not more than ½ of an inch thick. Now apply the paste of cinnamon and sugar as evenly as possible. And then roll the dough to form an even log. Cut the log in half and then make ½ an inch-thick marks to create beautiful cinnamon rolls. Transfer the cut rolls in a buttered oven proof dish and let it rise for 40 mins in a closed and switched off oven.

Bake the rolls in a preheated oven, at 180 degrees C, for 20 to 25 minutes, until it turns a delicious golden colour, and is cooked all the way through.

For baking it on the day of the picnic, I have a trick for u. First, the night before, you can always create the rolls, place them in a greased bowl and tightly pack it with cling film. Now without keeping it in oven for 40 minutes to proof, refrigerate it overnight. On the day of picnic, put it in a warm, yet turned off oven for 40 minutes, before baking. Bake and serve freshly made cinnamon rolls, while it is still warm. Brush the top with more melted butter, as it comes out of the oven.

Alternately, steam the buns instead of baking it, the night before. And reheat the buns slightly before packing it for picnic. Steaming these buttery cinnamon rolls provides another texture to the dish. You can even have the steamed buns cold, it would still be pillowy soft and decadent. Steam the buns in a full boil for 20 minutes, till the flour becomes translucent.

 FOR PIZZA-

Take the other half of the dough and flatten it out on a sheet pan. Oil the pan generously so that nothing sticks. Then place the flat dough on the pan and push and pull to fit the cookie pan completely. Set it aside for resting for 30 minutes.

Assemble the pizza topping and pizza sauce. I most often then not, mix great amount of dried herbs in ketchup to make the sauce. Taste as u go.

Now apply a generous amount of sauce on the uncooked pizza dough to coat well. Cover it with cut vegetables of choice, and cover the veggies with cheese of choice. I prefer processed cheese and gruyere if I am serving the pizza cold. If I am serving it hot, straight out of the oven then I prefer fresh mozzarella and gruyere with a good sprinkle of parmigiana. But I am a cheese geek, you definitely don’t need to be. Top it with whatever cheese u have or fancy.

Bake for 25 minutes in a moderately hot pre-heated oven to have a melty gooey soft and yet so delicious pizza, which is a great cross between the bready and thin crust pizza your neighborhood

fast food place sells.

Enjoy the picnics.. Cheers!!

Social Media & Antara!!

Social media is the only thing that is constant these days. And its a wonderful platform to meet and connect with individuals of similar interest. Now that I am busy writing this series upon depression, these social mediums suddenly gained more importance in my eye than ever. Its actually a great way to meet and interact with new people, controlling all the information that you would like to give or take. Blogging helps too, but Microblogging through your twitter Instagram and Facebook profiles are far easier and better. So, if you havent already, do subscribe onto my profiles to get many foodie updates. Feeling doubtful? Then check what all happened up there while you were not following me (and doubting me.. Sob* Sob*)...

To start with, lets start with this picture where I finished a whole handi of delectable biryani with the serving spoon.... Really I was that hungry!!!

And then the biggest #breakfaststories over a plate of Mushroom and cheese omlette and a potato hash tikki. 

And then the cheesy quesadilla or 

This spicy pickle of Bhut Jhalokia, which very sadly is missing out of my kitchen and I am desperately trying to find another one.... 

So you get the point right? There is a lot happening up there. Do LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and FOLLOW me on -

Twitter- AntaraZandC

Instagram- AntaraZandC

Facebook- Zouqh, the Taste of Being.

Veggie Bong Spl - Kumro Chokka

Celebrating the Bengali Legacy dishes with my twists this week- Poila Boishak Special....

Let me start today with a story. A story that the young me got really shocked to star in. Once upon a time, a big while ago; I met my man of dreams and together we went to seek a flat in the busy metropolitan Mumbai. Our offices were in Lower Parel, the southern neighbourhood of commercialised mill properties. It started as a humble neighbourhood, which fast became the most expensive part of the city. To us, it made sense to stay near our offices better than travelling in the maddening traffic up and back everyday. There were these humble 1 bedroom flats up on rent, a very basic setup but for a young love struck couple like us, it seemed perfect by many statures. The meeting with the landlady started with a question; “what is your caste?” The answer put a smile on her face. “Oh good, you are a Brahmin, our flat would be blessed. I am extremely happy to have you here, especially because we are also vegetarians.” I was perplexed. “Vegetarians?” I asked. She stared back blankly, “you are Brahmin na… then?” “Yeah, but we are Bengali Brahmins, we eat non vegetarian food as well. Is that a problem?” my husband asked. It took a minute for the landlady to overcome the shock. She calculated the copious amount of rent that we were about to pay her and then mumbled out, “yeah OK, the sin is for you to bear!”

I had met many such vegetarian Indians who have cringed upon us for being Bong Brahmins. Yes, the elite caste in every region apart from the eastern, comes with a preconceived cuisine of vegetarian delicacies. Nothing wrong in that I say, but the nose cringing and talk of sins is wrong. Wrong if you think so, and wrong if you feel we are lesser Brahmins than you. Every region comes with its history. Try to understand it and you would know exactly why we don't follow what you might. Bengal is prone to floods every year. Do you think it was a better idea for the whole sect to die hungry, rather than eat what was available to us at the difficult times? And yes, after that we chose to continue eating, respecting every single morsel of it.

A lot of our food revolve around fish, and it’s true. But another fact that is as truer is that we eat a lot of veggies too, some really exotic and exclusive to our region. A typical bong thali looks a bit like this- It starts with bitter vegetables, transcends into a leafy vegetable- Saag and then does it give way to the non-vegetarian fare. And I remember growing up like this. We ate a hearty amount of saag and veggies, and 1 pc of fish daily.

Today, I am going to write about 1 of the most classic vegetarian dishes that the Petuk Probashi Bangal me loves to eat quite often than not. It’s rather easy to put together, and respects the vegetable enough to keep its flavour clean. This is how I like to make it, my way.

Ingredients

200 gms Pumpkin, diced

1 medium sized potato, diced

2 tbsp mustard oil

1 whole red chilly

1 bay leaf

½ tsp Bengali 5 spices (Panch Phoron- a proportional mix of cumin seeds, nigella seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds and black mustard seeds)

Salt and turmeric to taste

A pinch of asafoetida (hing)

1 tbsp + ¼ th cup water

1/4^th tsp sugar

1 tsp cumin powder (jeera)

2 tsp coriander powder (dhaniya)

Optional

A big pinch of coriander leaf chopped to garnish

Method

Dab dry the diced vegetables and keep it aside.

Heat 2 tbsp. of mustard oil in a non-stick wok, till its smoking point. Add the dry red chili and let it burn until its black in colour, quite literally so. Trust me, the smokiness of this burnt chilly will impart such a contrasting flavour to the dish that you would most certainly be bowled over.

Once there, add the Bengali five spices and bay leaf to the oil and let splutter. Add the potatoes at this stage and let it sauté in the oil till it develops a golden hue all around. Now dump in the pumpkin along with a big pinch of turmeric and cook on medium flame uncovered to develop a beautiful colour all around. It’s important that the pumpkin is not covered or salted at this stage. We need to caramelise both the veggies well, taking utmost care to stir every once in a while.

Once its nicely golden and 50% cooked through, salt it to taste.

Dissolve the pinch of hing in a tbsp of water and add it to the hot pan. This is a unique step, but believe me it adds to the dish pretty well. Thoroughly mix it with the vegetables and cook for a minute till the aroma of hing wafts off.

At this stage dump in more water, stir and let it simmer on low flame till you prep the 3^rd unique step in the recipe- roasting dhaniya and jeera powder.

In a hot pan or tawa, dry roast freshly ground cumin and coriander seeds. Let them colour well, taking utmost care to not burn the delicate masala. Transfer it out of the tawa as soon as you feel the aroma pulsing through the kitchen, and set it aside.

Once your pumpkin is almost cooked through, dump in the masala and give it a good stir. It’s imperative that till this stage there is a bit of water in the pan which will cook down the roasted masala a bit. Otherwise, the masala would actually turn crunchy, and would mar the dish with too much of uncooked strong flavour. Once there, put the flame on high and while stirring constantly, let the water dry out.  Taste, season and serve it hot out of pan with steamed rice and an easy lentil curry.

Cheers!!