Say cheese(cake)!

Ok, first things first. I can't bake to save my life. Really. I do have a big fat oven in my kitchen, but it doesn't work. It has not worked in the last 5 years. In fact, when we moved into this house 5 years ago, it was in the 'to be replaced' list, but it never was replaced because I simply have no use skills for an oven. I do have a toaster oven, which works just fine for making lasagna and garlic bread and stuff. But baking and me do not go together. The one time I tried to bake muffins for my ex-colleagues, I had to tell them they were cookies instead. Yeah. But I do make things, which are otherwise baked in a big fat oven by normal people. For example, I can make muffins in the microwave oven, and I'm proud to declare that they are butterless and soft and spongy and very highly edible. (I should probably put up the recipe sometime).

Anyway, back to this post. We got a recipe booklet with a tub of yogurt we bought, and some of the recipes looked really good and erm, possible. When I saw the recipe for cheesecake, I jumped. You see, cheesecake is pretty much the only type of cake I like, and I really do love it to bits. Plus, there was no mention of an oven in the recipe, so unless it was a horrible typo, it looked like something I could make. Mom-in-law, who loves cheesecake just as much, was thrilled when I told her I wanted to try it out. And yes, the results were fantastic. I must admit though that this is a very jugaad recipe, because I couldn't find some of the items and had to use my imagination and replacements. Also, I realised that because it was a yogurt company's recipe book, they had to go and stuff yogurt into every recipe, but the yogurt actually made my first round of cheesecake a little softer than it should have been, and when I skipped the yogurt in round 2, the cheesecake came out perfect. Also, it was to be a trial so I only bought one pack of cheese which was 125 g, while the recipe called for 500 g of cheese. So I had to use a quarter of all listed quantities, and you try measuring 5 g of gelatin powder without any weighing scales! So the recipe I have below is a mix of what they had plus my jugaad modifications.

Ingredients
5 Digestive biscuits (finely powdered)
4 tbsp melted butter
5 g gelatin powder (I couldn't find this so I used lemon-flavoured jelly crystals instead! In round 2, I increased the quantity to 1 tbsp and it came out better. I suspect gelatin would be the best option though. I'll try it in round 3.)
1 can of peaches in syrup
125 g of cream cheese at room temperature (I couldn't find cream cheese so I used fruit cheese, which is the same as cream cheese except that they add fruit bits that you have to live with)
40 g castor sugar (I just put regular sugar in the mixer.)

Method
1. Mix the melted butter and powdered biscuits and press firmly onto the base of the container you're going to make the cheesecake in. I just used a regular round plastic bowl with a cover. Keep in the freezer. (The recipe asked for it to be chilled, but freezing worked better for me.)
2. Boil the gelatin powder (or jelly crystals) in 50 ml of peach syrup from the can. Keep stirring till all the powder is dissolved.  Leave to cool.
3. Beat the cream cheese and castor sugar till fluffy. (Now here's the thing. Mine wasn't that fluffy because it was fruit cheese. I think if you use plain cream cheese, it would be quite fluffy. Another change to try out for round 3.)
4. Mix the gelatin solution into the cream cheese and sugar mixture.
5. Pour the mixture over the biscuit case. Chill for 3 hours.
6. Decorate the top with peaches from the can.
7. Cut into pieces.
8. Hog.

Mexican rice

So I made Mexican rice for dinner today and that's when I remembered that the bar hasn't seen a recipe in quite some time. It's a quite a healthy dish (till you reach the part with the cheese, heh heh!) and you can make in 45 minutes (less if you're using leftover rice).

Ingredients
Green pepper, 1 medium
Red pepper, 1 medium
Babycorn, 1 can
Rice, 1 cup
Olive oil, 2 tablespoons
Garlic, 2 fat cloves, grated
Salsa habanera, 2 tablespoons
Any seasoning salt that looks like it will go with Mexican food
Mexican oregano
Mozzarella cheese, 4 tablespoons, grated
Salt to taste



















These are the salsa habanera and seasoning salt I used. I bought these in the US, but I'm pretty sure you'll find alternatives in every country. Tension nahin lene ka -- just look for a Mexican-looking/sounding sauce. This particular brand is the killer kind. If you shrugged your shoulders and said, "Two tablespoons se mera kya hoga?", trust me -- bahut kuchh hoga.

Method
1. Wash and soak the rice in water.

2. Cut the peppers into thin strips.

3. Wash the canned babycorn and cut into halves.

4. Mix the pepper and babycorn pieces in a glass bowl. Add 5 tablespoons of water and microwave on high for 10 minutes.














5. Meanwhile, put the rice to boil. I usually make it by boiling it in water and draining the excess starch, as I like the grains to stay separate. I don't think this will work very well with rice cooked in a rice cooker or pressure cooker.

6. Heat the olive oil and add the grated garlic.

7. Add the microwaved vegetables.

8. Add salt, 2 tablespoons of the salsa habanera and a dash of the seasoning salt and oregano. Mix well.

9. Add the cooked rice. Mix well.

10. Turn off the heat and put the rice and vegetables in a glass bowl (I just reuse the first one).

11. Cover the top with grated cheese.














12. Microwave on medium for about 5 minutes (or till the cheese melts).














13. Dig in!














Serves 3 (or 2, if a very hungry Viv is involved)


Note:
1. You can skip the cheese if you want, but beware, by skipping the cheese, you're messing with the sanctity of the dish.
2. If you really really REALLY want to skip the cheese, I have a great alternative. Don't skip the cheese. Hit the gym.

Microwaved baingan ka bharta

I hated baingan ka bharta (BKB) when I was a kid. I don't know why -- maybe it was the mushy texture, the ugly colour of the dish, the smell of roasted brinjal or the fact that it just didn't taste the same as, say, pani puri.

So imagine my joy when I found out I could microwave brinjal (thanks, mom-in-law, for the awesome tip!), thus doing away with the characteristic burnt BKB smell. I know some people like the dish for its smell, but unfortunately I don't.

So here it is, the recipe for BKB in a very highly edible form.

Ingredients:
Brinjal - 1, long (the round ones should work too, though I have never tried it)
Tomatoes - 3, medium, diced
Onion - 1, small, diced
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Chilli powder to taste
Salt to taste
Oil
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:
1. Wash the brinjal and cut it into three pieces, each roughly the length of your forefinger. Slightly oil the surface and poke holes with a fork.

2. Arrange them on a shallow glass dish and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Turn them and microwave again, until they turn a disgusting shade of pale purple and brown (see picture below).














3. Cut the microwaved brinjal (it should be very very soft and easily cut) into small pieces (see picture below). You don't need to peel the brinjal (good source of fibre). Besides, it's very difficult to peel microwaved brinjals compared to roasted ones. By the way, the peel doesn't interfere with the taste at all.














4. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds.

5. Once they finish sputtering, add the onions and fry till they become translucent.

6. Add the tomatoes, salt and chilli powder and cook until the tomatoes are half-done.

7. Add the brinjal, mix thoroughly and cook for a few more minutes.

8. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Hostelite's aloo

Remember when you were a hostelite and you were SO sick of the canteen food you actually turned to maggi? You had one pathetic little pan in your tiny hostel room, in which you made the maggi and you chomped on it as you watched sitcoms off the shared computers on the network? And then you discovered frozen parathas and wished there was something else to go with them other than yoghurt or the achar you got from home before you started hitting Mustafa?

No?

Okay, if you're one of those hostelites who started making biryani in the first year itself, get out of my bar. Now. NOW.

This post is for people like me. People who never stepped into the kitchen when they were at home, and had to leave the country and go live by themselves and slowly start learning the fine art of cooking. By starting from scratch.

And Hostelite's Aloo (HA) is one of the critical steps to help you get there. It is incredibly easy to make, it needs very simple ingredients, it's very tasty, and it's such a great accompaniment that it helps pave the way for you to start making chapatis and parathas yourself. And most of the time, it is a success so it gives you the most critical ingredient in your culinary journey -- confidence.

This recipe for HA is dedicated to all you freshies out there, who would like to graduate from maggi.

Ingredients
Potatoes - 2 medium, cut into thin strips
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Onion (optional) - 1 small, thinly sliced
Turmeric power - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Dried red chillies (optional) - 5

Method
1. Heat the oil, and add the dried red chillies and mustard seeds. Wait till the mustard seeds have finished sputtering.
2. Add the onion and sauté till they become translucent.
3. Add the potatoes, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well.
4. Reduce the flame to very low, and cover the container. (This dish can be successfully made even in a non non-stick pan, provided you really keep the flame low.)
5. After 5 minutes, use a spatula to toss the potato strips well to make sure they are getting evenly cooked, and are not sticking to the bottom. Cover again.
6. Once the potato strips can be easily cut with the spatula, turn off the flame.
7. Serve with rice, chapatis or parathas.

The half-hour Thai curry

Viv and I both love Thai food but it's quite difficult to find a fully vegetarian version for him anywhere. Even the so-called vegetarian Thai curries often have fish sauce or chicken stock. And that's how I created this dish. I found a bottle of vegetarian Thai curry paste at Giant and the list of ingredients confirmed that it was indeed 100% vegetarian.

This Thai curry will take you only half an hour to make, preparation included, trust me on that. I have timed myself and proved it. I made it only with broccoli and babycorn, but you can add all sorts of other vegetables like carrots and potatoes.

Ingredients
Broccoli - 1 small
Babycorn - 1 can
Onion - 1 small
Garlic - 4 cloves
Red chillies - 10 (Control, bewdas, control. Sabke bas ki baat nahin.)
Vegetarian Thai curry paste
Coconut cream - 4 tablespoons
Salt
Sugar
Chilli powder (if 10 red chillies are not enough for you, muahahaha!)

Method
1. Cut the broccoli into small pieces.
2. Wash the babycorn pieces and slice them horizontally.
3. Microwave the broccoli and babycorn with two spoons of water for about 5 minutes.
4. While the microwaving is going on, grate the garlic and chop the onion and red chillies.
5. Heat oil and add the onions, garlic and red chillis. Fry them for a while until the onion turns transparent.
6. Take the vegetables out of the microwave oven and add them.
7. Add salt and cook for a while.
8. Add two tablespoons of the Thai curry paste and enough water to make the gravy. Don't add too much water or your curry will be too dilute. Bring to boil.
9. Add two tablespoons of sugar.
10. Turn off the heat and add the coconut cream. Stir well.
11. Taste the curry and add salt/sugar/chilli powder as required.
12. Serve with rice.

Chilli garlic babycorn

So Viv had a cricket meeting tonight, meaning I was in the extremely undesirable position of having to cook for one. Making dough for two chapatis was so not worth it, and then I would have to make a sabzi to go with it. There were no fresh vegetables in the fridge but when I raided the cupboard, I found a can of baby corn.

Bingo.

I decided that this was the best opportunity to try out something new because even if it backfired, poor Viv wouldn't have to suffer the consequences (Bhai in pativrata mode, eh? Hota hai. Kabhi kabhi.)

So here it is, the recipe for the chilli garlic babycorn that I just made and am chomping down as I type.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of babycorn
  


• 1 small onion, finely chopped
  


• 10 green chillis (please control this as per your taste; mine's a bit insane), finely chopped
  


• 4 cloves of garlic, grated (I hate biting on garlic pieces so I always grate it instead of chopping it. No matter how finely I chop it, I still end up biting on a piece and going "Bleeaaah!")
  


• Green chilli sauce (I used Ching's, available everywhere in India and now, FINALLY, in Mustafa in Singapore! Yipeee!)
  


• Red chilli sauce (Ching's again, though Maggi may work too)
  


• Soya sauce (If you live in Singapore, use no brand other than Kikkoman! Others will ruin your dish!)
  


• Vinegar
  


• Salt
  


• Pepper
  


• 2 tablespoons cornflour
  


• Spring onion
  

Method:

1. Wash the babycorn pieces and slice them horizontally.

2. Add a dash of soya sauce and red chilli sauce.

3. Sprinkle the cornflour and a little salt. Mix well.

4. Let it marinate for about 20 minutes. (I chopped the vegetables while it marinated.)

5. Heat sufficient oil to shallow fry the babycorn. (I had just given darshan at the gym yesterday and didn't want to deep-fry, though I suspect deep-frying would make it tastier. Oh well.)

6. Fish out the babycorn pieces from the marinade and shallow fry them for about 5-10 minutes till reddish-golden. There will be some marinade left but don't throw it -- we'll use it later for the sauce.

7. Remove and place on a piece of kitchen towel. Place another piece of kitchen towel on top and press lightly to absorb the extra oil.

8. Heat about 1-2 tablespoons of oil. (Fortunately, the oil left over after shallow frying was just enough to make the sauce. You may want to use a suitable amount of oil to achieve this, it saves the jhanjhat of reusing the once-fried oil for other stuff.)

9. Add the chopped green chillies, grated garlic and chopped onions and fry for a while.

10. Add some vinegar, some soya sauce and some green chilli sauce (all quantities andaaz se). Don't ask why red chilli sauce to marinate the babycorn and green to make the sauce. Ainwain. Mann kiya.

11. Add a little salt and pepper.

12. Add the leftover marinade and stir well. You may have to add a little water to get the right consistency.

13. Toss in the babycorn and mix well.

14. Garnish with spring onion and serve immediately. Yum!

PS: Yeah, I saved a little (only a little) for Viv. :P

Kung pao Nutrela

I just realised that much as I love to cook, I have never shared any recipes on my blog! Sheesh! This one doesn't count as the recipe is in the comments section, and was produced upon request. Will try to have one recipe post every month from now on. :)

***

Kung pao chi is one of my all-time favourite Chinese dishes. However, there are two problems with it. The one you get outside contains MSG, and there's no point making it at home only for myself (Viv is a vegetarian).

So when I spotted a box of Nutrela soya chunks at the supermarket during my recent visit to India, I grabbed it for experimenting. I was apprehensive about the soya chunks turning out rubbery and too chewy, but they were perfect (just follow the instructions on the box, the hindi ones. Yes, the hindi instructions are slightly different from the English ones. Strange, yes.)

The eggs rolls I made with the Nutrela chunks turned out yummy, and the natural next step was to try to make Kung pao Nutrela.

I followed this recipe, substituting the chicken with the soya chunks. I don't have Chinese rice wine or sesame oil at home so I used regular vinegar and regular vegetable oil instead.

Towards the end, I threw in a bunch of roasted cashewnuts and a dash of green chilli sauce (it just wasn't hot enough!).

The mistakes I made were adding the spring onions too early (they wilted). Add them at the last possible minute before turning off the gas. I also didn't make enough sauce for the amount of soya chunks I had (serves me right for my 'andaz se' measurements!) so I had to top it up in the pan. The sauce didn't turn out very thick so I used some cornflour dissolved in water to thicken it. Since the spring onions had disappeared, I cut some fresh ones as garnish.

After all the repair work, I finally managed to make it look and taste like Kung Pao chi.

Click for a larger image.

Try it! :)