Wada Sambar (Just a Teaser)

Wada Sambar, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.

Cool Cabbage and Peanut Salad

Hey guys, summer is now just around the corner for UK and boy is everyone waiting for it. It was a very wet month of May,but the clouds are now making way for a very very hot summer. I hear its going to be one of the hottest summers ever (don't we hear that every year). So the strappy vests and capris and shorts have come out of the closet and you can already see people sun-bathing on the green. The ice cream van has started its rounds , picnics are being planned and barbeques are getting a thorough cleaning. All in all its time to be outdoors.

Now cooking and spending time in front of a hot hob is one thing I do not relish in the summer. So this is the time when good ,fresh and cool salads really come to the rescue. Nothing like a light and lemony salad to keep your mood upbeat. What I have this time is this delicious cabbage salad with a generous sprinkling of peanuts and moong dal.

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What you need:

2 cups grated or finely shredded cabbage,

4 tblspns soaked yellow moong dal,

2 tblspns crushed peanuts,

2 tblspns chopped coriander,

juice of half a lemon,

1 tspn sugar,

salt to taste

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For the dressing or tempering:

1 tblspn oil,

1 tspn cumin seeds,

1 clove garlic crushed,

a pinch asafoetida,

1 green chilly chopped

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Procedure:

Mix the shredded cabbage, moong dal, crushed peanuts, coriander, sugar ,lemon juice, and salt and keep aside.

Next prepare a tempering by heating the oil and adding to it all the ingredients loke cumin,garlic etc.

Let this tempering cool down a bit and then pour it over the salad and mix well.

Your salad is ready to serve.

As a fancy bit you can add half a cup of pomogranate seeds to this salad.

Serve it in a cabbage leaf as I did.

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Jacket Potato with Chicken Tikka Masala

Thank you all for sharing my joy by leaving such warm and heartfelt comments on my previous post . I really enjoyed reading all of them . But as much as I would like to keep that post on I do have some fantastic posts with delicious food waiting in the wings to make an appearance. So moving on, here is one lip-smacking dish which I tried for the first time yesterday and was thrilled with the way it turned out.

Now when I say Chicken Tikka Masala ,what is it that first comes to your mind? Most people would instantly think it is the same as the Chicken Tikka that we have on restaurant menus in India. Well that's not the case. This Chicken Tikka Masala is something that is totally english. Yes ,you heard right. It's a complete english creation. In a survey conducted in the UK about the TOP 10 FAVOURITE FOODS this dish stands at no 3. People here just love it. And one good way to eat it is as a topping on a hot baked jacket potato.

And that's what I am sharing with you today. So here goes:

First you need to marinate the chicken for atleast an hour . Best would be to marinate the night before.

For the marinade you need:

1 cup yogurt, 2 tspns garlic paste, 2 tspn ginger paste, 1/2 tspn turmeric powder

Mix all the above and coat the chicken pieces thoroughly with this marinade. Leave for atleast 1 hr.

For the baked potatoes :

You can take 4 large potatoes. Here I could get potatoes that are specially meant for baking,but you can use any large potatoes.

Mark out cross slits on both sides of each potato with a sharp knife and oil them well all over.

Preheat the oven at 250 deg C and place the potatoes under the grill. It takes about 20 mins each side to bake a potato to a crispy finish.

Ok now for the Tikka Masala you need:

200 gms boneless chicken cubes,

1 can chopped tomatoes (400gms) or approx 5 medium tomatoes finely chopped,

3 cloves garlic crushed,

1 tspn cumin powder,

2 tspn coriander powder,

1/2 tspn garam masala,

1 tspn Kitchen king masala (omit this one if its not easily available),

1/2 cup single cream,

1 tspn chilli powder,

1.5 tspn sugar,

2 tblspn oil,

salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Thread the chicken pieces on skewers and griil them at 225 deg C until tender .

2. In a pan heat the oil and fry the garlic first. To this add the chopped tomatoes and all the spice powders, salt ,sugar and cream.

3. Boil the sauce until the tomatoes are well cooked and well blended with the cream. This takes about 20 to 25 mins.

4. To this sauce add the grilled chicken and boil further for 5 mins.

Your chicken tikka masala is ready.

Now to assemble the dish:

Place one hot baked potato on a plate. Slit it open slightly and spoon the tikka masala over the potato. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve with fresh crisp salad

My First Venture on TV

That's Anthony Worall Thompson and yes the other person is me.


Hi everyone !!! I was off on a short holiday but I am back now and boy am I ready to blog. Blog about something amazing. OK OK I admit I have not kept you all updated about what's been happening these last couple of months ,but believe me I had a tough time holding back all the fantastic news I could share with all my foodie bloggo-buddies. Well I think the time has come to reveal all that has happened .

In the month of February you might have read a post on my blog about a recipe entry I sent to UKTV Food for the People's Cookbook. Well if you did'nt then take a look here.
What happened after that is that my recipe of Sweet Semolina with a touch of Saffron was selected by UKTV FOOD.
I first got a mail from them a month later saying so. When I called their office I was asked if I was ready for a day and a half of shooting. The half day shoot was at home and the next shoot would be at the studios for one whole day. I said yes of course and the ball was set rolling.

On the 3rd of April two guys (a cameraman and a director) from Denham Productions came to my place and we had a prelimnary shoot which consisted of partly cooking the dish and a 10 min interview in which they asked me questions about the dish and about myself. I was also asked to perform a pooja which they shot and then make an offering of the sweet dish as Prashad. Besides family members I could also invite a couple of friends to eat the dish. Well the whole thing took about 3 and a half hrs but it was great fun.

After that we were asked to come to the studios on the 9th of May. The location of the shoot was actually a cookery school called "Lucy Cooks" in a very small village called Stavely in the Lake District. Now the Lake District is one of the most scenic places in UK ,so we took the opportunity and turned our trip into a small holiday .

The actual shoot was a 6 hr long affair. There were two celebrity chefs: Anthony Worall Thompson and Paul Rankin. Anthony cooked my dish with me sitting at the counter and chatting with him and Paul Rankin cooked the other participant's recipe. Both dishes were tasted by a panel of judges and one was selected to go into the People's Cookbook (which is a online multi-cultural cookbook they are creating). The downside is that my recipe did not make it into the People's Cookbook but the experience is one that I will always cherish .The number of people involved and the hard work put in, in shooting a 60 min episode is amazing.

For me it still feels unreal. I never thought I would be on UKTV Food which is one of my most frequently watched channels.

Thanks to all of them for giving me this chance.

Kothimbir Wadi (Steamed Coriander Cakes)

This is again one of those recipes which I have blogged about before but feel like reviving because they are so delicious and absolutely deserve an second round of applause. So here's presenting Maharashtra's traditional favourite Kothimbir Wadi

Ingredients:

4 cups chopped fresh coriander,
1 cup besan (chickpea flour)
1/2 cup wholewheat flour ,
1/2 cup semolina,
1.5 tspn chilli powder,
1 tspn salt ,
1/2 tspn turmeric powder,
1 tspn sesame seeds,
1 tspn powdered fennel seeds (saunf) ,
1/2 tspn sugar,
2 tblspn oil

Procedure :

Mix all the above ingredients and form a dough by adding very little water at a time (do not add too much water or the whole thing will turn soggy and you will start hating me).

If you find the mixture too sticky just oil your palms well and then handle the dough.

You can divide the dough into 2 or 3 portions. Shape them into elongated logs.

Now oil a steel vessel (one which you can place inside your pressure cooker) and put all the portions of the dough in it.

Pressure cook this mixture for the same duration as you would for dal and rice.

Let the cooker cool down a bit and then open it. Also let the steamed dough cool. After it has cooled completely cut it into slices as thick or thin as you want.

Heat some oil on a tawa(griddle) and shallow fry these pieces (Wadis).

Serve hot garnished with fresh coriander and freshly grated coconut.

If you are on a diet eat these wadis without shallow frying them and only steamed.

They can be eaten as a snack with tea or as part of an entire meal. Follow the same procedure and measures but replace the coriander with fresh methi (fenugreek) or shredded cabbage for equally scrumptious variations of this dish