Gourmet Ice and the story of the 'ice entrepreneur'

Everything is not done before, and there is always scope for invention/improvement.

Molecular gastronomy, cooking with nitrogen and now this. To know more, click here.

Rajma pakode (Red Kidney bean fritters)

What you would need:

For the fritters:
Rajma (red kidney beans), soaked overnight- 2 cups
Onion - 3 large
Green chillies - 2 to 3 big sized
Ginger - 1 inch
Almonds - 10
salt to taste
Coriander leaves - 1 small bunch
Vegetable oil for deep frying the fritters (You can use Olive oil as well)

For the dip:
Yogurt - 1 cup
Processed cheese - 2 tbsp
Capsicum (finely diced) -for garnish

Prep:
For the fritters:
Coarsely grind the soaked kidney beans, mix in finely chopped onions, fresh chopped coriander leaves, ground chillies, ginger, salt and coarsely ground almond.

Heat the oil in a deep pan, and deep fry the fist sized flat fritters made of the above batter.

For the dip:
Heat the cheese in a microwave oven for 20 seconds till melted, quickly blend in the yogurt, whisking to avoid cheese lumps. Garnish with chopped capsicum.

Serve the fritters hot with the dip.

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Quick and easy, this snack is a welcome break from the traditional chilly/onion fritters.

Nutty Chicken

What you would need:
A mix of Walnuts, Almonds, Cashew nuts - 1/2 cup (Blanched, skin removed and ground coarsely, you can use a single variety as well)
Chicken - 400 grams
Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1 medium sized ( finely chopped)
Tomato puree - 4 tbsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp ( only if you like the curry hot, else skip this)
Green chillies - 4 no's
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Fresh cream - 2
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for tempering (You can use Olive oil as well)

Prep:
Marinate the chicken for about half and hour in yogurt along with salt, cumin powder and half the garlic and ginger paste.

Heat oil, saute the onions till translucent, add the tomato puree, green chillies, coriander powder and cook till aromatic and lightly brown. Blend in the chilly powder.

Add the chicken and allow to cook on medium flam for 10 minutes. Add the nuts and about 1 cup of water (if you have stock, that works great too). Cook for another 10 minutes with occasional stirring. When the chicken is almost done, stir in the fresh cream and garam masala, then cook for 2 minutes with a lid on the pan.

Garnish with blanched and peeled nuts. Serve hot with rice or roti (bread).

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Cream, yogurt and nuts make this dish rich and extremely delicious. :) .

Eating Out - Cafe Coffee day Lounge

Props to Cafe Coffee Day for changing it a bit and bringing in 'The Lounge'.

Refreshing, tasteful and an overall pleasing first impression. Finer interiors, better music and a larger variety to choose from.

We tried the Siphon ( which is strong coffee, minus milk and sugar and is served with dates for the sweetness - I felt a craving for tea with cherries when this was brought in : ), Lounge Frappe ( this was a little weak in flavour, but was a satisfying tall glass of smooth cold coffee ), and the veggie nuggets with mint chutney.

All in all, much prefer this to the regular CCD, I just hope that in trying to achieve a lot I hope it does not end up with a identity crisis - confused borderline lounge/bistro/coffee shop :) ??

Veggie Nuggets - the mint chutney was divine.

Siphon - As promised a pleasure to the senses.

P.S: The Lounge also allows you to customize your sandwiches and pizzas- you can choose the bread, filling and spreads you want in a order slip and pass it to the chef.

Crunch and Syrup

Pancake sandwich with diced apple filling, dash of maple syrup topped with a drizzle of flavoured powdered sugar **. Breakfast today :D.

** Flavoured powdered sugar :

You would need :

Roasted Chana Dal (roasted bengal gram)- 1/2 cup

Sugar - 4 tablespoons

Elaichi (Cardamom)- 1 0r 2 for fragrance

Prep :

Grind all ingrediants to a smooth flowing powder. Sprinkle on the hot pancakes to get a nutty sugary taste. :)

You can store the left over powder in a air tight container for future use.

Ragi Rotti

Ragi Rotti a delicious succulent chewy bread made of Ragi (Finger Millet) is perfect for a snack or even a meal.

Seen in the picture this very traditional dish is served with another Andhra speciality - 'Allam pacchadi' or ginger pickle.

Personally I love to eat the ragi rotti with fresh curd, potato curry and dal :). You can store ragi rotti for couple of weeks to a month, which makes it the perfect 'back up food' :).

For the recipe of this very special dish, do mail me at jchaitanyareddy@gmail.com .

We take breakfast very seriously

Healthy, nutritious, filling and packed with energy. If there is a contest for families that take their morning meal seriously, mine would end up in the top.

Breakfast today was 'Grilled Chicken' Sandwich NOT Grilled 'Chicken Sandwich' :D.


What you would need:
Grilled Chicken ( you can buy this off the counter in many restaurants, if you wish to make your own you will need to marinate chicken in curd, chilli powder, salt and grill this on slow heat with constant application of butter) - cut into bite size
Fresh baked bread
Onions - Finely chopped **
Tomatoes - Finely chopped
Green Chillies - Finely chopped
Fresh coriander leaves - finely chopped
Butter
Cheese slices ( You can use grated cheese of your choice as well)
Pepper

Prep:
Apply butter on one side of the bread, put the cheese slice over this.
Then put layers of chicken, onion , tomoatoes, green chillies and corainder leaves. Sprinkle some pepper
Butter another slice of bread and cover the sandwich.

You can grill, toast or pan toast this sandwich. I made the pan toasted version today and it was delicious :) . Enjoy with a bit of ketchup !!

** Do not restrict your sandwich to these vegetables, use what you have at home, thin slices of mushroom, carrots capsicum etc would make this sandwich even better.

Keeping it simple

Lunch Today - Dal, dahi raita, bhindi masala and roties.

Planning for lunch on a working day can be done easily if you pick basic, simple dishes for the menu. Try and complete as much prep work the night before so the morning effort goes into adding the finishing touches.

Desi Tadka Pasta

My grandmother more often than not complains about how I keep bombarding her with flavours and ingredients for which she has not yet acquired the taste :). Hence, this time I tried a desi spin on making pasta using local ingredients - my granny loved the results and so did the rest of the family including me :).

So here goes, (the recipe makes enough to serve 3 people ):

What you would need:

- Ribbon Pasta - 3 to 4 fistfuls
- Mixed vegetables (cut in julienne style) - 6 to 8 cups
(I love my pasta loaded with veggies and for this recipe, I used potatoes, cabbage, spring onions, mushrooms, red onion, tomatoes, beans, green chillies and asparagus)
-Olive Oil
-Roasted Coriander and khus khus ground to powder
-Tomato puree
-2 cloves garlic
-Salt to taste

Prep :

For the pasta: cook the ribbon pasta in boiling water with a dash of olive oil and some salt. Drain, run under cold water and set aside.

For the Vegetables: Heat oil, add garlic and cook till light brown ad the onion and toss occasionally till translucent. Now add the vegetables that take longer to cook foll wed by the ones that take lesser time. Stir in the tomato puree, ground powder and little salt. ( As I like my veggies to be crunchy the cooking of the vegetables is very stir-fry style, also be careful on how much the salt you add at this stage as the pasta already has been infused with the same during the boiling)

Once the vegetables long enough to suit your taste, add these to the pasta and garnish with a drizzle of grated cheese.

Do try and let me know how it works, I would also be really glad to hear about any variations that you may have tried.

Cheers!!

Ridge Gourd Chutney

Made this tangy, spicy chutney as part of lunch today - great side accompaniment to the meal.

What you would need:
Ridge Gourd - 2 large
Mustard and Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon each
Green Chilies - 3
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Asafetida - Pinch
Roasted chickpeas - 2 Tbsp
Black split gram (Urad Dal) - 2 Tbsp
Refined Oil (I ran out of this so used Olive oil instead)
Tamarind Pulp - 1/2 cup (To get this soak a marble sized tamarind in water and extract pulp)
Salt to taste

Prep:
Heat Oil, add the mustard and cumin seeds, when they begin popping add the roasted chickpeas and black split gram. Once all these ingredients take a golden hue, add the chopped ridge gourd and turmeric. Cover with a lid and cook in low flame till the gourd is cooked. (You will need to periodically stir to ensure uniform cooking).

Once the gourd is cooked, turn off the heat and sprinkle salt to taste and mix, allow this to cool.
Grind the cooled cooked gourd along with the tamarind pulp.

The super yummy and tangy ridge gourd chutney is ready :). I like to eat this with rice, rotis and dosa's.

Many variations of the same can be tried:
1. Add a small eggplant chopped along with the ridge gourd while cooking
2. Add tomatoes while cooking the gourd
3. Replace the green chilies with dry red ones
4. Roasted peanuts when added while grinding the veggies also renders a unique taste

Try the basic recipe and do share if you tried any twist in it :). Cheers.

War of the Instant Noodles

First there was noodles, then along came smoodles and now we have foodles. The naming is possibly where the differentiation against Maggie noodles and new entrant Horlicks foodles* ends.

Foodles tastes just like Maggi noodles ( and possibly better, the quantity of the spice mix looked a little more than in the Maggi packs – which seems to lend a richer taste).

The verdict : When Maggie noodles and Horlicks Smoodles are so close in taste, texture, quantity and pricing I would not bother much about which to pick. Although I really like the aroma that comes only from cooking Maggi noodles .

* Horlicks smoodles claims to be a a multi grain noodle which comes with multi-vitamin enriched spice mix. Maggie has also being playing on the health angle by promoting its product as a healthy snack with its now popular tag line “Taste bhi Health bhi”.

Also did you know that there is a World Instant Noodles association?

When??!!

When will this convenience hit our city??

Pasta Mania -2

So, here is another quick easy and smoking version of a hot Pasta Salad.

What you would need : As always I recommend that you use your flavour profile to mix and match the quantities, just be careful not to overdo it though :).

Pasta- 2 cups (I used a combination of penne and fusilli)
Red Onion - 1 small
Tomatoes - 4 large
Capsicum - 3 large
Spring onion whole - 3 sprigs
Milk cream - 2 tbsp
Cheddar cheese - 1/2 cup
Green Olives
Black Olives
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper

Prep :
Cook the penne and fusilli in water with a little salt and a drizzle of oil (to avoid the pasta from sticking) - drain and keep a little stock aside.

In a wok, heat some olive oil add finely chopped red onion and half of the tomatoes. Toss around till they blend into a course sauce, add the milk cream and allow to thicken. Now add the chopped spring onions and toss. Remove from heat, add the capsicum and mix so that it absorbs the heat of the sauce. Toss in the pasta and mix. Put on slow flame and top with the cheese. In a bowl mix the remaining tomatoes(big chunks) and medium size chops of capsicum, add some olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix and add to the pasta. give a quick stir and serve hot.
I enjoy mine with a lot of fresh tomato and capsicum. Do try and let me know :).

Pasta mania - 1

I have had just about enough of cheesy creamy pasta, so I decided to take it on my self to make two simple variations of pasta that focus less on the dressing and a bit more on the pasta itself.

The first of which is a extremely simple : 'Penne in Eggplant sauce'.

What you would need : always I recommend that you use your flavour profile to mix and match the quantities, just be careful not to overdo it though :).

Pasta- 2 cups (I used Penne)
Eggplant - 1 medium
Spring onion whole - 3 sprigs
cherry tomato - 3 ( If you do not find these u can use any tomato with citrus notes)
Red Onion small - 1/2
Tomato puree - 2 spoons (If you do not have puree you can whip up some or use some ketchup)
Green Olives
Black Olives
Olive oil
Sal to taste
Cheese

Prep :
Cook the penne in water with a little salt and a drizzle of oil (to avoid the pasta from sticking) - keep a little stock aside

In a wok, heat some olive oil add thinly sliced eggplant and toss till brown and slightly crispy. Remove the eggplant chips and in the same wok add diced onions followed by the finely chopped tomato. Add the spring onions and toss, follow with 3/4 cup of the penne stock and simmer till the paste thickens. Add the tomato puree and close flame, grate some cheese , add the olives and the eggplant chips. Mix well.

Now lightly fold the penne into this sauce till the pasta is lightly coated, drizzle some olive oil and enjoy.

Although a huge fan of the traditional creamy pasta or the sundried tomato pasta I like to experiment with the simpler dressings. Do tell me how this turns out for you.

Ganesh Chaturthi Festival – Vinayaka Chavithi

Like all festivals celebrated in India, Ganesh Chaturthi is also celebrated with a great deal of enthusiasm. Recipes passed down from generations are used to prepare sweets and savoury dishes.

The dishes prepared on this day are offered to Vinayaka first.

To me this festival marks another day of feasting and a mighty great day for cooking and sharing.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi, and as always happy reading and happy eating :).

Cheers!!

Dressing up .. the noodles ;)

There are many reasons why I love cooking and eating Chinese - it is delicious, it is quick, it is healthy and one great dish makes for an entire meal :).

Most of the Chinese noodle recipes involve a quick stir fry of cooked noodles and veggies. I have tried to add a variation to this by finishing of the stir fry with a "dressing" made of fresh spring onions and ginger.

What you would need:
For the noodles:
Chinese noodles - 200 gms
Vegetable julienne - 2 cups ( I used Carrots, capsicums and cabbage)
Garlic (sliced) - 4 no's
Dry Red chillies (chopped) - 1 to 2 no's
Chilli sauce - 3/4 tbsp
Chilli Vinegar - 2 tsp
Black Ground pepper - 3/4 tbsp
Ajinomoto - 1 pinch
Oil

For the spring onion and ginger dressing:
Spring onions (Finely chopped including the whites) - 2 cups
Ginger (finely chopped) - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Ajinomoto - 1 pinch
Olive oil - 4 tbsp ( You can use sesame oil as a variation)
Salt - 2 tsp

Prep :
We need to prepare the dressing first, giving it enough time to cool before using on the noodles.
Spring onion and ginger dressing:
Mix all the ingredients except the oil in a bowl. You will notice that the potion of the spring onions shrink and the colour deepen as a result of using salt and sugar. heat the olive oil in a pan till smoky, remove and pour over the spring onion prepared. Mix well and set aside to cool.
Tip: Pour from a arm's length distance to avoid hot oil splattering on you.

Stir fry veg noodles:
Heat water (about 10 cups) in a large pan and bring to boil, add 1 tbsp salt and 1 tsp oil (regular cooking oil will do) add the noodles and cook till almost done. Drain and set aisde, if you feel that the noodles will stick to each other drizzle a little olive oil.

In the same pan heat some oil, add garlic and red chillies add the vegetables when aromatic. Stir as you mix in the chilli sauce, pepper and ajinomoto. Add the vinegar and the noodles and stir fry for about 3 minutes.

Remove and mix in the spring onion dressing.

Serve hot and fresh :).



I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, do write in to let me know.

Peanut Butter with a twist. Ofcourse!!

My knack of trying variation's to any recipe has made me come up with some great dishes.
This post is about one such fabulously rewarding experiment.

You must have all tried different variations of the peanut butter spread - smooth, chunky ... spicy???

You heard me right .. spicy :).
This spicy home made variation of the peanut butter is so good and unique, that I am actually having second thoughts about sharing it ;) .

What you would need:
Roasted peanuts - 2 cups
Roasted dry red chillies - 4 to 5
Garlic Flakes - 6
Salt

Tip: Go easy on the chilli and garlic if you do not want it to be super hot mix and match the quantities of chilli and garlic to reduce spice or enrich spice.

Prep:
Combine the peanuts, chillies and grind coarsely. Now add the garlic and salt and grind to the consistency that you like.


This is a dry spread and can be stored for weeks in a air tight jar without loss of flavour or freshness.

Use this along with regular butter and spread on toast :).

I absolutely love it, do try and let me know how it works for you.

Cheers!!

Smell like the food you make?

Here is how to avoid it.

When marinating vegetables/meat with spices, using the hands is the most efficient way, using wooden spatulas doesn't quite render the same uniformity and gentleness to marination.

The downside to this that you hands could go on to smell like the marination spices even after repeated hand washes , think fish or garlic.


.. Ewww.
But there is a way out, here are tricks that will get you fabulously marinated ingredients minus all the fuss:
1. You could use gloves
or
2. You could use the technique I follow : gently place all the ingredients - vegetables/meat, spices inside a zip lock pouch and seal it.

Now holding the pouch from the outside, simply knead from the outside till the ingredients are mixed right. Simple isn't it :) , a definite must follow.

Another plus to this is that you can store the marinated ingredients as is in the pouch in the refrigeration for as long as required and then open when needed.

Do write in if you use similar tricks in the kitchen.

Rains make me happy :)

The city of Hyderabad recorded 11.23 cm rain yesterday, the highest this season. Everything turned green, fresh and pure :).

Just before it poured - Grey skies and happy trees

The rains were a reason for lot of happiness and the perfect excuse for some masala chai ( spicy tea) and mirchi bhajji ( chili fritters).

Mirchi bhajji's with cheese :)

What you would need:
Long green chillies - 4 no's
Besan (Gram flour) - 1 cup
Ajwain (Carom seeds) or Jeera (Cumin seeds) - two pinch's ( use any of either, each lends a distinct flavour to the fritter)
Cheese spread - 3 to 4 tsp's
Salt to taste
Soda Bi carbonate - really tiny pinch
Water - as per requirement
Oil for deep frying the fritters

Prep:
Wash the chillies thoroughly. Slit these and remove the seed, stuff each with about a tsp of cheese spread and keep aside.

Stuffed Chillies

In a bowl, mix the gram flour, seeds, salt, soda and water. Use enough water to make the batter slightly runny.

Tip:Be careful not to add to much soda, it will cause the batter to adsorb excess oil when cooking. Also do not add to much water, else it will not cling onto the chilli.

Tip: Use a wide mouth bowl, this will enable easy dipping of the chillies, later on.

Heat oil in a large frying pan , dip the stuffed chillies completely in the batter till well covered and immediately transfer into too pan for deep frying. This should be done quickly and carefully to ensure that the chillis remain well coated with the batter,

Tip: Always slide the fritters from the side to prevent the oil from splattering.

Periodically turn the fritters to ensure even cooking, remove when golden brown.

Transfer on tissue to enable excess oil drain and serve hot with tea, along with a choice of sauces/chutneys.

Crispy golden chilli fritters, perfect for a rainy day

Cheesy Gooey goodness - Yummmm

Imagine a plate full of these piping hot chili fritters in a weather where the wind brings with it just a hint of rain spray. Sounds like heaven :).

Variation :
Feel free to get creative with the stuffing. You can use grated vegetables, boiled spicy potato, or even dry roasted spices, cottage cheese as a variation to the cheese stuffing.

If you have tried anything similar and interesting, do write in.

P.S:
Next time I will try a non-vegetarian version of the chili fritter, will keep you posted.

Garden chronicles - Chickoo/Sapodilla/Sapota :)

The house garden has a Chickoo( Sapodilla) tree which has been laden with the amazing fruit for a week now.
The only problem is they are taking forever to ripen and the ones that reach that stage are either eaten by the birds or plucked by the neighbourhood kids :) .

Looks like I might have to eat these raw or figure out a recipe which incorporates raw chickoo's. :D

Do let me know if you have any ideas or recipes up your sleeve :).