at 14:20

Mogo Tikki (Cassava Tikki) by Leena: An unsung Superstar Tikki

 Leena is a friend and life saver. I have known her for over six years now. From my days of being a student at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), paper submissions, endless night readings to the birth of my child, she has been with us thick and thin. Our weekends are better because of her Aloo paratha, her animated conversation, and endless suggestion of how to keep the home clean and tidy. Her knowledge of which product is sale in Wilkinson to where is the best place to shop cloths are as wide as her culinary skill.  Her recipes are also very different from a Bengali kitchen which attracts me a lot as I get to eat very unusual, unsung Gujrati home cuisine.  

Here is one of Leena’s best dishes that I have had: Mogo Tikki (Cassava Tikki)

What is Mogo or Cassava: From Wiki “The cassava root is long and tapered, with a firm, homogeneous flesh encased in a detachable rind, about 1 mm thick, rough and brown on the outside. Commercial varieties can be 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) in diameter at the top, and around 15 to 30 cm (5.9 to 11.8 in) long. A woody vascular bundle runs along the root's axis. The flesh can be chalk-white or yellowish. Cassava roots are very rich in starch and contain significant amounts of calcium (50 mg/100g), phosphorus (40 mg/100g) and vitamin C (25 mg/100g). However, they are poor in protein and other nutrients.”

The Mogo picture attached is not my photo. I have taken it from Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava

Makes: 10 depending on size of the tikka number can vary

Time: 1 hours including preparation

Level: very easy  

Ingredients

500gm cassava or Mogo

500gm yoghurt

2/3table spoon lime/lemon juice

1 bunch fresh coriander

3 Green chill (or more if you like it hot)  

1inch ginger’s paste

1 onion diced into small pieces

Salt and paper as per taste

2 teaspoon chat masala

Sev for garnishing

Tomato garnishing

Oil for frying the tikka

4/5 tablespoon Corn flower

Ingredients for coriander Chutney

1 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves

1 green chili

1 or 2 tsp lemon juice

½ sugar (optional)

Black salt or rock salt or sea salt as required

Ingredients for Dates and Tamarind Chutney

½ cup Tamarind

½ cup seedless dates

½ jaggary

½ teaspoon coriander powder

½ cumin powder

½ red chilli powder (optional)

Black salt or rock salt or sea salt as required

Method :

1  1  Cut and clean  the Mogo in to small pieces and boil
2.      Meanwhile take all the ingredient for coriander chutney in a blender and mix it well. Keep aside. The consistency will be thick liquid
3.       Take all the ingredient for Date and tamarind chutney in blender and mix well. It will be liquid  in consistency
4.      Now the Mogo should be boiled. Mash them like potato
5.      Add salt, paper, ginger paste, green chilli, lime/lemon  juice, chat masala and mix well with the mashed Mogo
6.      Divide the mixture into small or medium shaped patties. Rub corn flower on both the sides of the tikki
7.      Heat oil in a tava or a shallow frying pan. Gently place the Mogo tikki and pan fry them. You can also deep fry them
8.      When one side of tikki becomes golden and crisp, turn over and fry the other side of tikki.
9.      Gently flip for a couple of times till the mogo tikki are golden and crisp evenly.
10.   Once done, then drain the Mogo  tikki on paper towels to remove excess oil.
11.    Arrange the tikka in a shallow deep plate
12.   Mix the yogurt with little water/milk  and pour over the arranged tikkis and let it soak for 5 mins
13.   Pour the coriander chutney and date tamarind chutney over the youghurt soaked tikkis
14.   Garnish with tomato, diced onion, fresh chopped coriander, sev and chat masala
15.   What are you waiting for? Dive in 

at 19:58

Baked Alu Tikki : Healthy , Easy and Tasty ( North Indian street Food)

Alu Tikki reminds me of my Vijaynagar days in Delhi University. The ‘thela walla’ with alu tikki, the smell, banging of the iron spoon on the huge iron tawa in the evening announcing his arrival. Whenever I think of alu tikki, I am always reminded of days when three of us had to share one plate of the alu tikki or momos and would be dreaming about days when we will be rich enough to eat separate plates. We all can buy separate plates now but that fun of eating together and sharing can never be replaced by the joy of individual plates. It reminds of SJ  saying ‘Maja aa giya’

 

Alu tikki brings smell of Delhi to me- the city I love to hate, the city which had taken so much and given so much, the city where I met R. My friends and my life support -S, S, A, P, P,J,J – I met them all in Delhi.

 

My baked alu tikki does not taste anything like the alu tikki of the ‘thela walla’. Just the way phuchca never taste the same when made at home. And I am happy that it does not. The taste belongs to Delhi and I will like to go back to the city to savour the taste.

 But, let me tell you something, it does not taste that bad either. It is not as crunchy and crusty as the deep fried alu tikki (of course not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).  It is crispy, crumbly, and soft. The idea is not to replace the fried alu tikki but to have a little healthier version so that we have them guilt free and more often.

 Try making them. I can promise that you will not regret.

 

Note : Using the same ingredients and method of making alu tikki  you can deep fry the alu tikki instead of baking them.  In that case, you will need oil for deep-frying.

 

Ingredients:

10-Medium Potatoes

1-Large red onion chopped

1-Green chillies chopped (optional. I did not use it)

½-teaspoon red chilli powder (optional. I did used kashmiri chilli powder for colour)

1/2- Teaspoon chopped ginger (optional. I used in some and most people did not like it. But I liked it)

2-teaspooon chopped coriander leaves.

1- teaspoon chat masala (optional. I used sumac)

1-cup breadcrumb

Little oil to aid browning

Salt as per taste

 Method:

1.     Preheat the oven to 200C fan oven

2.    Line a baking tray with foil

3.    Boil the potatoes and clean them when cooled

4.    Mash the potatoes properly, but leave a little bit of lump ( very little) for texture

5.    Add rest of the ingredients and combine well

6.    Make round balls with the mixture and then take each ball and flatten them

7.    Add oil in the breadcrumb and combine. The crumb will still remain loose but little oils helps to brown well while baking

8.    Roll the flatten balls on the bread crump and then place it on the baking tray

9.    Bake for 15/20 mins or little more depending on oven. Basically bake until golden brown on both sides

10. Serve hot with raita or chutney

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page here  and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog . I am featured at Network bloggers.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

at 20:56

Shammi Kabab- Soul Food on a Winter Night

First time I ever eat this Kabab (kebab if you like. I am Bong so I will stick to Kabab) was in Pasher chachi’s house. Now who is Pasher Chachi? I know if my family members were reading this blog, they would know I have only one Pasher Chachi despite of actually moving house ‘n’ number of times. She was our neighbor (Pasher Chachi means aunt (Chachi) from the neighbor) . We, specially my brother stayed in her house more than ours. She would always make something nice to eat in the evening when we would come back from playing in the ground. Her house smelled of ‘ifter’ all the time. I have eaten Shammi Kabab in so many places but nothing matches my mental expectation, as my mind only recognizes how it used to taste when Chachi made it.

 

This particular Kabab is very famous in Pakistan too, tells one of my clients who share my interest in food. She is from Afghanistan and it seems they make something similar but uses chicken. I have her recipe too which I plan to try soon. However today I will make it with mutton (goat’s meat) as I have some sitting in the fridge for ages.

I am following chachi’s recipe, which is very different from many other recipe of Shammi Kabab that I found on internet. She uses boiled mince mutton. They look like fish cutlets, which are pan-fried. Basically, it meets all my criteria of good soul food: not deep fried, not high on cholesterol and easy to make.

By the way, according to me Lucknow is one of the best places in India to have kabab’s. Whenever I went to field visit, I would always drop by at Tunda’s. Lucknow is proud of its Kebabs. It seems the uniqueness of the kebab of Lucknow is the ‘masala’, which is a zealously guarded family secret and prepared by women in the family. But I would like to share my chachi’s recipe with you. So here it goes!

 

Ingredients:

500g Mince Mutton/Lamb/Chicken

100g Chana Dal or Chickpea (I used boiled and tinned)

1-Egg

2-medium to large onions minced

½-tablespoon ginger paste

½-tablesppon garlic paste

½-teaspoon cumin powder

½-teaspoon red chili powder (optional, use Kashmiri chili powder or as needed)

1-tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

2-slices of bread, torn to small pieces

½-teaspoon garam masala

Salt to taste

Oil as needed

 Method:

1.     Boil the minced mutton with salt and throw the water once boiled. That way you get rid of unhealthy fats of mutton. If you do not like the idea then just cook the mutton with little water so that you do not have to throw anything

2.    Boil chickpea and drain water

3.    Now mix the mince mutton and chickpeas with hand ( I like it that way) or using a bender so that they are combined together

4.    Now add all the spices with the mutton- chickpea mixture and mix well

5.    Add the bread and mix well so that there is no lump. This will make the mixture tight and easy to work & give shape

6.    Add the coriander leave and mix

7.    Add egg

8.    shape into flat rounds

9.    Heat a frying pan and add little bit of oil

10. Pan fry the kababs until brown on both the sides

 Serve with raita, onion, mint chutney, Kasundi etc

 For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page Pet Pujo and Adda and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog. I am featured at Network bloggers.  you can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope see you again!

 

at 22:36

Chitrangada’s ‘Guilt Free Muchmuche Alu Bhaja’ with little bit of Simon twist (Baked Potato Fries/ Fingers)

I have been meaning to cook something from Chitrangada’s Blog ‘Color and Spices’. Her Recipe coupled with her day light photograph entices me entirely. I wish I could take some day light snaps like her or cook like her really. Day light photograph on sunny day is not possible as I am in office when sun god shows mercy (if at all) on us Londoners. And on weekend, by some conspiracy it is always raining in London.

So I am trying to be happy to cook from one of her recipes (not like her though as she is way too good). There is a little bit of twist in the recipe to give it my signature. I used garlic pickle instead of the garlic oil. Hope it tastes as good as hers

Ingredients:

4-small potatoes (any would do, at least did for me) thin cut like fries

2-tablespoon of oil

1-teaspoon of garlic pickle with oil ( it has full garlic cloves)

½-teapsoon chili flake

Salt to taste

 Method:

1.     Wash the potatoes with skin

2.    Cut them to thin finger or sticks. Do not make them too thin or too thick

 

3.    Now in a bowl add oil, garlic pickle with oil and chili flake and mix well

 

Oil from garlic pickle droped on white oil

 

 

4.    Line a baking tray with foil

5.    Place the potatoes on the tray and pour the oil

 

6.    Mix the oil properly with the potatoes

7.    Layer the potatoes on the tray so that each one is separate from other ( if you are doing lots you might have to do them in batches)

8.    Heat the oven at 200c ( fan oven)

9.    Place the tray in the middle  and bake for 5/8 mins ( or until little brown)

10. Take the tray out and toss the potatoes so that each side gets the brown color

11.  Take it out when brown and crispy

12. Serve like snack with dip or serve with white rice and dal

Please visit me at my face book page  Pet Pujo and Adda and click like button  to get regular updates from me. Follow me at my bog Pet Pujo and Adda  and I am there at Network bloggers as well.

 

at 18:09

Spicy Moroccan Chicken Skewer

I have not used the oven in my new home. It does not look in great shape and that is upsetting me already. So it is important that it works well. I decided to make something that is easy and quick to make and have very little chance of going bad in case the oven works up.  So I am making this Moroccan Skewers both in vegetarian and non vegetarian version. This one is with chicken. There is a vegetarian version of the dish after this post

By the way I realised that I have not written about my work for long. Well I am very busy with work and cleaning home. So soon will be back!

Until then happy cooking!

Ingredients for Spicy Moroccan Chicken  Skewer

250- Boneless chicken breast cubed

1- teaspoon coriander powder

1- teaspoon cumin powder

1-teaspoon cinnamon powder

1- teaspoon red chili powder ( optional or depending on taste)

2- garlic cloves grated

6-teaspoon plain waterless fatless yogurt (hung curd or Greek yoghurt)

1-red bell pepper cut into same sized cubes as chicken

1-onion, cut into same sized cubes as chicken

Salt to taste

1-tablespoon oil

 Method:

1.   Mix coriander powder, cumin powder, cinnamon powder, red chili powder, garlic cloves grated and yogurt and salt.

2.   Add the chicken and marinate in refrigerator as long or as little you like depending on time you have. I did not 15 mins

3.   Preheat the grill to 200c heat

4.   Remove chicken from marinade.

5.   Thread 1 chicken piece, 1 pepper piece, and 1 onion alternately onto each skewer, beginning and ending with pepper or onion

6.   sprinkle evenly with remaining salt and little oil

7.   Arrange skewers on grill rack coated with oil

8.    Grill until golden brown. In case they are cooked but not brown braise them on oiled & heated pan to make then little brown

9.   Serve with warm pitta, roti, couscous, bread or rice along with cucumber and yoghurt sauce with coriander

at 18:02

Spicy Moroccan Paneer Skewer

I have not used the oven in my new home. It does not look in great shape and that is upsetting me already. So it is important that it works well. I decided to make something that is easy and quick to make and have very little chance of going bad in case the oven works up.  So I am making this Moroccan Skewers both in vegetarian and non vegetarian version. This one made with Paneer. You can buy Paneer in Tesco or any India/Asian grocery in London. There is chicken version of this dish before this post.

By the way I realised that I have not written about my work for long. Well I am very busy with work and cleaning home. So soon will be back!

Until then happy cooking!

Ingredients for Spicy Moroccan Paneer Skewer

250 Paneer cubed

1- teaspoon coriander powder

1- teaspoon cumin powder

1-teaspoon cinnamon powder

1- teaspoon red chili powder ( optional or depending on taste)

2- garlic cloves grated

6-teaspoon plain waterless fatless yogurt (hung curd or Greek yoghurt)

1-red bell pepper cut into same sized cubes as paneer

1-onion, cut into same sized cubes as paneer

Salt to taste

1-tablespoon oil

 Method:

1.   Mix coriander powder, cumin powder, cinnamon powder, red chili powder, garlic cloves grated and yogurt and salt.

2.   Add the Paneer and Marinate in refrigerator as long or as little you like depending on time you have. I did not 15 mins

3.   Preheat the grill to 200c heat

4.   Remove paneer from marinade.

5.   Thread 1 Paneer piece, 1 pepper piece, and 1 onion alternately onto each skewer, beginning and ending with pepper or onion

6.   sprinkle evenly with remaining salt and little oil

7.   Arrange skewers on grill rack coated with oil

8.    Grill until golden brown. In case they are cooked but not brown braise them on oiled heated pan to make then little brown

9.   Serve with warm pitta, roti, couscous, bread or rice along with cucumber and yoghurt sauce with coriander

 

at 19:19

Stir Fried Chicken with Onion and Curry Leaf for my little friend from the bus

There is this little boy who travels in same the bus as I do. Every day he will sit in one of the front seats and he will keep his bag on the other. And Every day I will go near the seat and stand. He will not move his bag. Then I will request him to remove his bag. He will remove the bag and I will sit next to him. Then he will give me his cutest smile and I will smile back at him. It seems like a game that we play with each other.  He reminds me of me, my brother D and every little kiddos that I have worked with in various schools in Delhi. However, he is in many ways very different from others. He reads a book and listens to classical music (I can hear his music but unable to identify). Engrossed! Then he will look outside and smile.  A tilt of the head. Then back to reading. His hair disheveled and long. He looks very much absent from the space he is occupying.  Then he prepares to get off the bus. I never move until he requests me.  Well, we are playing a game so we need to be equal. He will get off the bus, turn and give his big innocent smile. And I will smile back. Always! For last 30 days. He is the best thing about my going to work.
I was thinking about him while making this chicken. And that brings a smile on my face. Children can be so interesting sometime.

Ingredients
10-chicken legs, washed and cleaned
3- Onions, diced
½-teaspoon black mustered
2-dried red chili
2-tablespoon of my madras curry powder (check my spices section in the blog)
10-curry leafs
1-tablespoon oil
Salt to taste

Method:
1.       Marinate the chicken with my madras curry powder and salt
2.       Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, red chili and curry leafs
3.       When the seed starts to crackle, red chili has turned dark, add the chicken.
4.       Fry the chicken until almost done
5.       Add the onions and fry with the chicken
6.       Serve as finger food or starter