Maharashtra Da Puttar...

Yes, after my first blog post in this series, I had stopped writing for some time. Someone encouraged me to write this and keep publishing... It is my lovely Mom :) Although there are many well wishers and fans of my cooking behind this, the final motivation was given by my Mom yesterday when I told her about 'n' different types of gravies I could prepare now a days. I learned a lot of things after coming to the United states, needless to mention "The Art of Cooking" is one of the things.

Now you must be wondering what does the title of this post mean? Many of you must have guessed it! Yes, it means the Son of Maharashtra in Punjabi Style. With due respect to all original Punjabi putters' I can advertise myself as a 'Maharashtrian - Punjab da Puttar' in cooking. Still not getting the real meaning? Let me explain...

I started cooking in an authentic Maharashtra style, (especially "Cobra" style) when I came here. The roomettes I have with me are all from Utter Hindustan, except one from MP who is Maharashtrian by origin. Then for many days the dishes I used to prepare were appreciated and I was encouraged. But one day, as I was not much serious into cooking (It used to be my hobby before) I got bored with the routine life and we decided to share the task of cooking too. I started getting introduced to the core Punjabi/North Indian style of cooking. Many times, being a rigid/stubborn Marathi foodie guy, I used to fight with my roomette when I used to see him doing the things in a different way. But later on I started accepting the fact that "The Maharashtrian" way is NOT the only way of cooking. I need to be flexible to adapt. And hence my journey towards excellence in cooking started. And finally I developed my own style of cooking which I call it a North-West style of cooking. What a coincidence... In USA also I live in North West part i.e. Washington state. :) Any ways, by now you must have got the idea behind the title...

Enough introduction, getting down to main topic. Here in this series, I'll be presenting some of my recipes, which I do not claim to be genuinely mine. :) But I have tried to make them look as original as possible. As I say, cooking is an Art and every cook is an artist and every recipe/preparation is his own artistic innovation... Every pinch of change in spices can give birth to a new variant of the same dish... (Probably now I understand, what my Mom means by the "Taste of different hands")

What makes my recipes different than others? The recipes I am going to mention are not hard and fast to prepare in certain way. I keep it to the user's discretion on how to treat these recipes... These recipes are inspired from North, West and South India.(Unfortunately I have no access to East Indian culture of cooking but I am sure I'll get it very soon after or before coming back.) I am going to keep some short notes along with the recipes for the audience to try out. Please take some pain to communicate back to me to tell me the results if you like/dislike it... :) You can also visit my website http://pranav.sahasrabudhe.info/mycooking.htm for some recipes which are not presented here in the blog series...

Let me start with one of the recipes demanded by my friend over the google chat... She was missing the dish so much, that she could not resist herself and asked me the whole recipe over the chat and I did it... (If she is reading this, she know who she is...;) I would have liked to present the whole chat, if she would have given me the permission... Ha ha ha... Here goes our next recipe, extracted from the chat session...

2. Stuffed Capsicum/Bell Pepper (भरली ढब्बु मिरची)( Stuffed Shimla Mirch) with curry/gravy

• Spice level: Medium Hot
• Style: North - West
• Preparation time: Around 30 mins. Depends on how fast you make ;)
• Ingredients:

For Stuffing:

Potatoes 250 gm, boiled, piled and mashed into fine paste.
Coconut shredded about 1 cup
Onions 2 Medium
Tomatoes(Optional) 1 medium size
Ginger paste 1 tbsp
Garlic paste 1 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Asafoetida 1/2 tsp
Cilantro powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Chilli powder 2 tsp / Green chilli paste 2 tsp
Garam masala
Salt to taste

For Gravy:

All Remaining stuffing
1 Small onion
1 small tomato puree
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tsp poppey seeds (Khaskhas)
Garam Masala
Cashew paste 2 tbsp (Optional)
100 gm Yogurt with cream / Sour Cream
4-5 Cloves (If you want more spicy curry)
Oil 2 tbsp

• Method:

For stuffing in the pan heat the oil for 2-3 minutes and add cilantro seed powder, turmeric asafoetida.Then the finely chopped onions and ginger-garlic paste and shredded coconut. Let it turn into golden brown. (This is necessary for the perfect taste) Add the diced tomatoes and a pinch of salt to it. Add some ready made 'Garam Masala' after the tomatoes are tender. Remove it from the stove and add finely chopped Coriander (Cilantro/Kothimbir/Dhaniya). Set the mixture aside and let it get cooler.

Take the mashed potatoes and add some salt, dry red chilli powder OR green chilli paste some more 'Garam masala', (a pinch of black pepper powder if you want it more spicy) and mix well. Add the prepared onion tadka mixture to it.

Cut the top part of the Bell pepper (Mirchi) and make a cavity by removing all the seeds from the top. Fill up the suffing till the top and close it with the carved pepper lid if possible. This keeps the stufffing from spilling out.

Keep the remaining stuffing aside for gravy.

In a frying pan take the oil and shallow fry the stuffed capsicum on a medium flame. Once the edges/sides of the capsicum start turning light brown, remove them one by one on a tissue paper to dry. (Save some calories :)

Gravy: Add half of the oil into the pan and heat it and add the onions, poppey seeds, ginger garlic paste and cloves to it. After making it golden brown, remove it from stove and grind it with the yogurt/cream to fine paste. Again in remaining half oil add this paste and tomato paste. Then optionally add the Cashew paste. Keep stiring on medium flame for 5 minutes. Add Garam masala and heat for 2 more minutes. You can add half cup water if you need thinner curry.

Once the gravy is ready, Add the stuffed caspicum to it and cover with lid and set on low flame for 2-3 miniutes. Remove from stove and garnish with finely chopped cilantro and shredded coconut.

• Speciality: The stuffed Mirch is prepared in Maharashtrian style and the curry/gravy in North indian style which gives exotic blend of North and West.

• Note: Olive oil is the most suitable and healthy option while making choice of cooking oil (Though it is little expensive and non-traditional in india)
• Note: The recipe can be prepared in Ghee (Clarified butter) and taste fabulous (if you are NOT calorie conscious
• Note: The gravy can be prepared in many other ways e.g. white/red/green/yellow etc. According to your taste and liking you could prepare the same recipe with all types of gravies.
• Note: Also, the same preparation tastes good without gravy too. This will be "Dry stuffed bell pepper"
• The preparation of Garam Masala at home can be found on my website. OR you can use ready made garam masala from some reputed brand
• As an alternate to shredded coconut, the roasted peanut with coarsly ground grain could be used.
  

Please let me know when you prepare this recipe. Send your feedbacks. And suggest me if I could improve with some modifications.

Till the next recipe, Marathi Munde Da "Sat-sri akaal" and "Ram ram"... Take care and have a nice time...

My First Attempt of Exotic "The Shahajehani Biryani"

Believe it or not, My journey of cooking started around 11-12 years back in my school days. I was really inspired from my Dad and Mom and was encouraged to indulge into the kitchen very often. I was really progressing fast and had achieved the expertise in cooking which was sufficient to feed myself. Then the journey towards next mile stone started. I kept on looking for some exotic, complicated and delicious recipes. I really used to make fun of women who used to use the cook books to learn recipes. I always used to say, the cooking is an art and is a gift. It can not be developed. What is there beyond the basic theory of cooking! But I was wrong. I realized that part of my statement was baseless. The cooking what I meant that time was just the regular food for daily use.

I entered "Uncle Sam's" land and the door to tons of opportunities opened to me. Yes, I am talking about America. I was also behind the "American dream" as all IT and Non IT professionals are! Nothing new. But I never thought that this land will help me excel in my hobby of cooking.

One fine day, I was walking through the aisles of the "Half price" book store. (I hope there is no need to answer "Why Half price book store?" :) ) and I had no intention of buying any book. But suddenly one book caught my attention. It was the "Art of India Cuisine" by Rocky Mohan. It has got really excellent and exotic recipes I have ever read. I am going to present some of the recipes with my own experience while preparing them with all due courtesy to the book.

1. Veggie Shahajehani Biryani

The original recipe is a non-veg version of this dish containing meat. It's needless to say that the people who tested this Biryani were lucky but not lucky enough to taste the original meat version of it. If you still want to prepare it with meat, please read the foot notes after the recipe. Enjoy...

Ingredients:
For veggie part:
1 lb cauliflower (Phool gobhi)
1 lb Paneer (Cottage cheese)
1/2 lb Potato
1/2 lb Green peas (Mutter)
1/2 lb carrot
1/4 lb Green/red bell pepper (Shimla mirch)
1/4 lb Nutrila (Veggie meat made up of Soya. If you like)

(The above ingredients can be reshuffled / eliminated according to your choice. Just make sure that the collective weight of ingredients remains the same. I am not one of the hard and fast cooks. I believe in the fact that when the chef changes, the taste changes. :)

1/2 cup clarified butter (Ghee)
1/2 cup onion puree (Pyaaz)
2 tbsp ginger paste (Adarak)
2 tbsp garlic paste (Lahasun)
1.5 tbsp Poppy seeds paste (khus khus)
12 Red dry chillies, ground to paste with water
4 tbsp Almonds (Baadam) blanched, peeled and ground to paste
3 tsp Cumin seeds powder (Jeera powder)
1.5 tsp Green Cardamom seed powder (Elaichi powder)
1.5 tsp cinnamon powder (Daalchini)
1/2 tsp Nutmeg powder (Jaiphal)
1.5 tsp clove powder
2 tsp black pepper powder (Kali Mirch)
1/2 cup yogurt (Dahi)
Salt to taste (Very tricky huh... ;)

For the Rice:
5 cups Basmati Rice, washed and soaked in water for 30 minutes and drained
7.5/8 cups of water
2 cinnamon sticks 1"
8 green cardamom pods cracked
1 tsp Vetivier (Kewda) essence (Optional)
1/2 tsp saffron strands soaked in 1/2 cup of hot milk
3/4 cup cream
1.5 tsp cumin seeds

For garnishing
2 Onions large sliced and fried until golden brown
1/2 cup Raisins(Kishmish) fried

Method:
To cook the Veggie Base:
Heat the clarified butter(ghee) add the blended mixture of the paste and spices. Stirring constantly until aroma rises and butter separates. Add 1/2 cup of water and simmer until it evaporates.
Add the veggies with the salt. Stir and coat with the paste evenly until brown in color. Add a little water if needed. Add the yogurt and water . Cook untill the vegetables become tender and there is very thick gravy.

To cook rice:
Put rice in the pan and add water cinnamon, cardamom and essence. Bring it to boil and reduce the heat, cooking until the rice is almost tender and water is absorbed.
In a heavy greased oven proof casserole spread half the rice. Pour half the saffron liquid, half the cream and half the black cumin seeds over it (I prefer them roasted on little oil). Then spread cooked vegetables evenly. Repeat this process second time.
Cover the dish tightly pressing down with aluminum foil. Put the lid and bake for 35 minutes in the oven which is preheated at 325 degree F.
Garnish with fried onions and raisins...