a commonsense approach to eating well, living well and travelling
This is a simple potato salad that really packs a punch with strong mustard flavour. My sister in law Sandhya prepared this when I visited them. It is a lovely side dish and we particularly like it with cured salmon.
INGREDIENTS
800g all-purpose potatoes
100g red onion, peeled and finely chopped
2-4 green chillies, finely chopped
Continue reading “POTATO CHOKTA – ODISHA STYLE POTATO SALAD”
It has been nearly ten years now, but I have a great food memory of eating beetroot cured salmon in a pub in St Albans, England. It was delicious and always thought it to be complicated. Here is a step by step guide to preparing cured salmon and you realise it is so easy. You have to plan in advance as it takes 2 days to cure – you can serve it as a cold main on a hot summer’s day or as an appetizer on rye bread with some pickles. I serve it with radish pickles and potato chokta.
1kg boneless salmon fillet preferably the loin part
150g sea salt
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons juniper berries
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
I suppose this is India’s answer to baba ganoush. There are several versions but one common factor is charring the egg plants on open direct flame. This gives a unique smoky flavour. This is great with flat breads.
INGREDIENTS
600g egg plants
100g onions, finely chopped
75g tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped
2tbsps tomato paste
1 generous handful of coriander leaves and stems, finely chopped
I realized I love baking bread. Something about working with the dough, proving it and so much excitement when it doubles in size. For me, it is a childlike wonder reflecting on the discovery of yeast or other leavening agents. I have only just started on my bread baking adventure and I hope to keep doing so I can perfect the art.
I adapted this recipe from Duncan Glendinning and Patrick Ryan’s “Bread Revolution – Rise Up & Bake” cook book. I wanted to give a naan feel so I used nigella seeds, salt and garlic flakes but you can use any combinations you fancy. Special bread flour or 00 or high grade flour has a higher protein (gluten) content which is a staple in bread making. This is one recipe where it pays to weigh out all the ingredients precisely.
I made slightly small ones and I got 12 flat breads.
INGREDIENTS
500g Strong white bread flour (high grade flour)
10g fine sea salt
50g unsalted butter, softened
10g instant yeast
200ml milk
Laddu is the term used for a sweet shaped to a ball. I have fond memories of my mum making Rava Laddus (Semolina balls). My sister-in-law Sandhya, makes these healthyish laddus and I built my recipe on that. Most of the ingredients are your standard pantry variety and it is a guilt free snack.
INGREDIENTS
3 cups rolled oats, toasted
1 cup desiccated coconut, toasted lightly
10g sliced almonds, toasted
40g cashew pieces, toasted
For as long as I remember, after breakfast, my mother or grandmother would forage for greens in our garden or the neighbourhood. We always had to have greens on the menu at lunch time. It is only natural that any edible greens were treated as a bonus and among unusual things my mum cooked, remember radish greens or moringa (drumstick) greens. In the same tradition, I have started using the beet greens – sometimes I cook on their own and smother it with roasted peanuts. This variation is spicy, nourishing (incidentally beet greens are high in iron and other essential vitamins and minerals) and so easy to make.
INGREDIENTS
125g lentils, rinsed
250g beet greens
150g onions, sliced thinly
4-5 garlic, peeled and crushed
This dish brings back lots of childhood memories for me. My parents were good friends with a couple from Kerala who were closer to my grandparent’s age. We would all go to their place occasionally for the odd treat. On one such occasion, we were treated to homemade idiyappam and this potato istew. My mother got the recipe and made it a few times. This recipe is based from that memory. The idiyappam requires special equipment to make so I have just used store bought rice vermicelli making this fairly simple and easy to prepare.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE ISTEW
600g waxy potatoes
200g onion, thinly sliced
3tbsps coconut oil
1tsp mustard seeds
½-1tsp turmeric powder
In several parts of the Indian subcontinent, the word ‘stew’ has been adopted in to the mainstream vernacular as istew or ishtu. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the istew is served with appam (rice pancakes) or idiyappam (rice noodles or string hoppers). My version is adapted from Camellia Panjabi’s 50 Great Curries of India book.
INGREDIENTS
800g boneless thigh fillets, cut into bite size pieces
2tbsp vegetable oil
1tbsp ghee
200g onions
5cms piece of ginger
1 teaspoon peppercorns
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
2-3 green chillies
400mls coconut milk
This is a refreshing cold soup to have on a hot day. I was rummaging my refrigerator and had bits or this and that along with stale sour dough all of which got converted to this soup.
INGREDIENTS
100g Fennel, diced (white portion only)
75g Hungarian green pepper, seeds discarded and diced
600g tomatoes, diced
2 slices of sour dough bread, roughly torn
1 clove garlic, peeled
This is a hearty and delicious stew of vegetables and buckwheat. It is a bit thick and chunky to call it a soup and hence stoup.
INGREDIENTS
3 small carrots, peeled and diced
2 sticks celery, peeled and sliced thin
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 medium potato, peeled and diced