Simple Roast Chicken

Simple Roast Chicken 

I love roasts of any kind. There are quite a few recipes of roast chicken out there but as usual the Simple Chicken Roast is hands down a winner with all the people I personally know. 

To be fair I used a kind of amalgamated recipe of Julia Child's and Jamie Oliver's. I especially agree with Oliver's school of thought about a gravy saving any dish and even if your dish is beautiful a gravy is actually the proverbial cherry of the cake. It does add so much flavour.

What I most like about this recipe is its simplicity. Before we move on let me clear one thing , one does need to use butter for the recipe and no substitute would do. Well I personally love Olive oil be it the fruity flavours or the relief of eating healthy but for this particular recipe you cannot but use butter because it gives it all that delicious flavour

Serves 5 to 6

1.8kilogram whole chicken with the skin
100gm butter
4 to 5 medium sized potatoes
200gm carrots
4 to 5 small onions not tiny though
Salt as per taste - I needed about 2 tbsp
Freshly ground pepper as per taste - I needed about 1 tbsp
1 head of garlic
1 stalk of celery
1 large lemon

For the filling

1/3rd cup bite sized carrots
1/3rd cup bite sized celery stalk
1/3rd cup bite sized onion

For the gravy

500ml to 700ml chicken stock
2 tbsp flour

Start by washing your chicken with lukewarm water . Wash it inside out and clean the cavity. Then wipe it with a kitchen towel.

Now massage the salt and pepper on the chicken but you must not forget to massage the cavity as well. use 1 tbsp butter to massage the chicken once you have rubbed the chicken with salt and pepper. Massage it well and leave aside for 1 hour.

Now dice the potatoes . Just halve them or make 4 pieces out of each potato. Roughly chop the carrots and onions and smash the cloves of garlic with the skin on .

Now finely chop the vegetables for the filling. Melt 20gm butter and saute the bite sized carrots, onions and celery till they are softened and then fill the cavity of the chicken with the sauteed vegetables. Take the lemon and prick it with a fork and microwave it at 900W for 20 seconds and place it in the cavity.

Now preheat oven to 220C and make a bed of the roughly chopped potatoes, onions and garlic and then add 50gm to 60 gm  of melted butter on top place your chicken on top ,tie its legs with a string and roast for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Remember that you must bast the chicken after you have roasted it for 20 minutes and every 15 minutes thereafter.

This is a particular trick I learnt from a French blog where you turn over the chicken after 1 hour of roasting  and roast it for 10 minutes and then turn over the chicken for the last 10 minutes of roasting. This process ensures that the back of the chicken gets well roasted and crispy.

Once roasted you must take out your chicken, wrap it in a kitchen towel and immediately go no to make a gravy. Just take out the pieces of potatoes and garlic then you will be left with the other vegetables and the delightful fat. Blend the vegetables with the fat and then bring this to a boil with the chicken stock and flour. Simmer for 5 minutes to 10 minutes and sieve and serve.

Do make a smooth paste of the flour with the chicken stock from before to prevent it from forming a lump.

Here are some Crucial tips for roasting

Mousse au Chocolat (Elizabeth David) / Chocolate Mousse

Mousse au Chocolat/ Chocolate Mousse 

by Elizabeth David 

I am pretty obsessed with trying out different recipes for the same dish. Take the case of the simple Mousse au chocolat, its available at virtually all bakeries around the world. Its chocolaty , airy and creamy but not creamy in the way dairy cream is supposed to be and that is exactly where I find my disappointment. That being said I always have maintained and still maintain that 'taste is subjective' Mousse made with cream is something I do not condone. Ever since I had stumbled across Maman Blanc's Mousse au chocolat I have sworn by it for the extra airy and light texture . Her's uses egg whites alone but then again this time I wanted something with a bit more body. Felicity Cloake has tried numerous recipes for Mousse au Chocolat (with cream and without it) and calls this 'the perfect mousse'. I do not consider any recipe to be perfect because what is perfect for me might not be perfect for someone else but if you like your's chocolaty , airy yet with that richness this is your mousse.

What you need is very simple

Makes 2 servings

2 eggs separated
60gm  dark chocolate , preferably 70% if you like it dark like I do or at least 50% dark ( the better the quality of the chocolate the better your recipe turns out to be)
A drop of lemon juice
1/2 tsp alcohol based coffee extract  Or You may experiment with any alcohol of your choice)

The whipped egg whites 

Start by whipping your egg whites to stiff peaks. Add the lemon juice to your egg whites when whipping it which prevents it from collapsing.

Now melt the chocolate over a double boiler (chocolate being a very delicate food item seizes,  that is forms a grainy mass with a little extra heat )

Quickly add the yolks and whisk it well till it is silky and smooth.

Quickly fold in 1/3rd of your whisked egg whites to loosen the chocolate yolk mixture and quickly fold in the rest of the egg white and pour it in your serving glass or cup of dessert bowl and set in the refrigerator for 2 hours and voila its done.

For a boozy and might I say better variant add 1/2 tsp alcohol based coffee essence. When folding in the whipped egg whites with the chocolate egg yolk base.

Very important tip :-

1. Never try and melt the chocolate and egg yolk together because not only will that make the chocolate seize leaving your mousse a bit grainy it might even scramble the egg so melt the chocolate and only  after melting it whisk in the egg yolks. 
2. Your expertise in folding the egg whites with the yolk-chocolate base will determine how mousse like the texture would be. 
3. I make my coffee extract at home by soaking 4 tbsp cracked coffee beans in 200ml vodka, for 1 week and then straining the extract. It stays for months in the refrigerator. So far these last me hardly 3 months or so because I use it to soak cakes , make mousse , ice-cream etc etc 

Cheddar Bread

Cheddar Bread 

There are certain pleasures of life which makes you feel that life can be beautiful and my recent venture into the bread-making arena has left me feeling that life is sweet. Alright I have to confess that the perfect outcome of my first ever bread has left me a little more joyous than ever. You see first-time successes are nothing to feel great over because if you really do your research well and know what to do and what not to do then chances are you will not fail.

Now there are plenty of recipes out there in the virtual world but choosing the right one is your key trick. For me I like the lengthy ones which explain every bit of the process and after my immense first time success with Dan lepard's Dundee Cake I decided he was my man for my first White bread as well. Now even with a good recipe I was terrified and here is why. You see the first time I had followed Mary Berry's recipe my cake had a mildly zinc like taste which I later found out was due to the amount of baking powder. I learnt a valuable lesson that the strength and usage of baking powder can geographically vary. So a reduced amount of baking powder later I have since made perfect Victorian sponge cakes and so I was a bit scared about using yeast since I felt the geography could come between me and my perfect loaf but then I closed my eyes read his recipe and compared it with another well known one and finalized on his well explained one. This one is just how I liek my bread to be rustic in its look and feel and taste and soft and cheesy inside.

So bread-making is the easiest of all culinary projects. Here are a few tips I have gathered from Mr.Lepard :-

1. Take your time and work a bit , so he suggests letting the yeast salt, flour and wet ingredients work for 10 minutes and then giving it a light kneading with buttered or oiled hands leaving ti for 10 more minutes and repeating it twice more. 
2. He suggests using yogurt for half the amount of water specified in a recipe for softer bread without a milky taste. So if a recipe asks for 300ml water you use 150ml water and 150gm yogurt which has been whipped.
3. Always place a tray of water beneath your rack which is baking the bread since that helps in keeping it moist. 

So I bravely added cheddar to my first bread and its  success overwhelmed me and so here I present my very own Cheddar bread since Mr.Lepard's recipe was only for a white bread :P 

Serves 4 to 5 

400gm all purpose flour 

1 tsp instant yeast 

1 tsp salt 

150ml lukewarm water 

150gm yogurt which has been whisked 

100gm Cheddar cheese cubed into very tiny cubes 

Kitchen towel 

Butter for kneading 

Extra flour for kneading 

Mixing the ingredients with the wooden spatula 

Start by placing your flour in a bowl. Add the yeast on one side of the flour and the salt on the other side . If you mix the salt and yeast it apparently hampers the yeast in its work. Slowly add the curd and mix with a wooden spoon. Then add the water bit but bit and mix well with the wooden spoon. You shall have a sticky consistency and wrap it in your kitchen towel and leave it for 10 minutes. 

After the third kneading with butter 

Oil your palms very well and the work board you shall work upon and knead the bread gently and put it back in the bowl and repeat this process twice more with a 10 minute interval where you wrap the dough in the kitchen towel. After the last kneading in which you make sure every side is covered with butter leave the dough to rise for 45 minutes (that is exactly the time I required) to 50 minutes and in the meantime cube the cheddar , wash and pat dry your work-board and flour it well, use plenty of flour on your hands and then knead the dough and do it fast so that the dough does not stick to your hands. 

After the last kneading with butter and letting the dough rise for 45 minutes 

Cheddar being added 

Add the cheddar in the middle and cover it with the dough from all sides and pinch it to make sure nothing is sticking out. Leave it with the kitchen towel wrapped around it for another 45 minutes to 50 minutes and then preheat oven to 220 C. Make a pattern on your bread with a knife before baking if you want to. 

Before the patterns 

Final dough ready to be baked 

Bake your bread with the tray of water beneath the rack for 45 minutes to 50 minutes if using convection oven or 35 minutes to 40 minutes for regular ovens. 

Enjoy this hearty bread with some soup, all by itself or with some cold cuts or make a hearty sandwich the choice is all yours 

Poulet aux 40 Gousses d'Ail

Poulet aux 40 Gousses d'Ail 

(Roast Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic)

 One of the big challenges I face when arranging for a special meal is narrowing down the options for the menu and even if you do decide on the menu the ocean of recipes in this galaxy of the internet is sure to confuse you. So the four banditas were meeting again and I was arranging a dinner party and for me deciding on the menu within a day is quite challenging so after much thinking, clicking, typing I decided Roast Chicken it was going to be but then which one ?

Lets talk a bit about obsession. I believe that we all have certain obsessions which we happily indulge in. My first obsession is of course white crockery and white linen and the second is making everything from scratch in my kitchen (as much as possible) and trying to search for by-gone recipes of a particular region of the world. Sure many a  times you need to alter or chuck out a few ingredients due to geography , unavailability etc but the pleasure of hunting it down is something which I find extremely satisfying. With Google translator things are much more easy. A certain image of a roast chicken caught my attention and it turned out this was the roast chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. Now I love my garlic and the simplicity of the roast attracted me instantaneously. Now that is the truth about French food. Everything feels its gourmet and difficult when in reality  it is simple elegant and delicious. Originally from the Lomagne region this one is a winner in my kitchen. Of course there were plenty of recipes differing a little bit from each other and I chose one which suited the ingredients available for me.

Now when you begin do remember that no matter what you use and what you don't the ingredients must , must , must be fresh.

Serves 6

1.7 kilogram Whole chicken (with the skin on of course)
40 large unpeeled cloves of garlic
2 stalks of rosemary
1 stalk of parsley
A handful of Thyme with the stalk
Salt and pepper
60 gm to 80 gm unsalted butter
1 medium sized lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock . Here is a recipe for Chicken stock

Now roasting a chicken is the easiest thing in the world but for moist crispy chicken here are a few tips which perhaps you might really find useful. Tips for roasting

So once you have cleaned , dried , seasoned and massaged  let it rest for 1 hour or 2 hours, then prick the lemon with a fork all over and place in the microwave for 40 seconds at high heat (this ensures the chicken gets the full flavour) and put it in the chicken's cavity with the rest of the herbs  tie the legs and then preheat your oven to 180C and grease your baking pan well Place the chicken on the tray and splash half the wine  and then scatter the cloves of garlic all around and pour the chicken stock roast for 1 hour 50 minutes if using the convection oven or 1 hour 30 minutes for regular ovens. Do not forget to bast (in this case you can use the wine in one of your basting) and for the rest of the basting use the liquid from the roasting pan  and cover it in the last 15 minutes. You know its well roasted when you pierce the legs and the juices run clear.

Let it rest wrapped in the kitchen towel once done for 10 minutes and in the meantime peel the garlic and make a smooth paste with a bit of liquid from the pan. This is a topping for bread. Use the liquid as a fantastic gravy. My guests kept licking their lips and fingers. When serving the chicken take out the herbs and lemon from inside the chicken.

Feast of love 2014

Love is in the air. Well to be frank Valentine's Day for me is much hyped yet the celebrations of the day is infectious. To be fair my husband and I feel even more loved when we make ordinary days into Valentine specials. I will be honest here. I believe that love for thyself is the greatest love one can have and only if you love yourself can you love another being with all your heart. I decided I needed some much needed pampering and my better part of the day was spent in one of my favourite places, Downtown Bombay. The architecture , the brilliant food and everything else is a romance in itself. I treated myself to a wonderful lunch and would highly recommend Cafe Churchill to anyone who loves Western Cuisine and happens to visit Bombay. I have written about My Experience of Cafe Churchill which left me in a much better mood for love.

So I shall revel my secret today. My husband and I are far from being romantic and I have realized that while I am completely head over heels in love with love itself I am not a very romantic person in reality. Most of my romance is swimming around in my mind. Thed other secret is that my green husband is not far from being passionate when it comes to culinary interest. Having said that I must mention that he has expressed his love for my cooking from the day I had put something on the table. So while I personally love love love elaborate lunches and dinners since we are Celebrating Valentine's day I decided my food should be an ode to love and so I prepared a dish which is cherished by my husband and well I love it as well. I bought a bottle of white wine to make the day a bit special and with enough praises from the bear half I was quite happy and might I say romantic as well. The surprise element was the dessert. You see my husband does not have a sweet tooth and more importantly he had expressed his utter repulsion for dark chocolates so while I cannot have my chocolates but dark, bitter, creamy silky he loves his chocolates milky and sweet.

 The surprising part was when I made some Dark chocolate Swiss truffles a few weeks back for my dear friend Claudia and well there were a few leftovers. I will go on to give a detailed description of what happened. I was in bed with Anna Karenina where she is madly in love when my bear half came over murmuring ' Mmmm Manjari , these are delicious. I love them' I looked up to find him relishing the dark chocolates truffles. I said, 'but you do not like dark chocolates' to which there was no reply since he kept popping one chocolate after the other in his mouth. My personal belief is that the cream which is used for truffles makes it a delight for all people unless they dislike chocolates.

So for dessert I decided on some Swiss Truffles. Now we did not actually have the dessert on Valentine's Day per say since both of us believe that any day can be Valentine's day and so my basic truffle was ready by the next day and even before I could roll them in the nuts or coat them with chocolate 7 of them were polished off by a man whose teeth was dark after the overindulgence. I couldn't be more happy. By night I was done with the coating and well who knew that the man who once despised desserts would pop in two more truffles.

So coming back to my food I chose Spaghetti alla Arrabbiata a dish which is cherished by my husband. Now usually I make Arrabbiata the old fashioned authentic way which simply uses garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and chilies and I love how you can play around with taste by adding a bit of basil on some days and a bit of parmesan on other days .I have personally even added red bell pepper with raving reviews. Here I must share a particularly important bit of information that I have learnt myself. You see most people would have you believe that Arrabbiata is incomplete without Parmesan or basil but that is not the case as I have mentioned already. Arrabbiata means angry and the pasta is called so due to the presence of ripe red chilies which give it is fiery taste. For a true gourmet feel do add the cheese and basil , it might not be absolutely authentic but is certainly tastes heavenly. The best part about this dish is that it hardly takes 15 minutes giving you ample time for other romantic activities.

What you need for 2 lovebirds :-

2/6 of 500gm pasta or a bit more if you have a strong appetite
5 to 6 plump tomatoes
4 to 5 garlic cloves (Indian medium size)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 ripe red chilies
A good handful of grated Parmesan cheese
5 to 6 fresh basil leaves
Salt as per taste

Start by boiling your pasta as per instructions mentioned on the packet. Bring water to boil and add salt and pasta and cook as per instructions. It usually takes 10 minutes to 11 minutes . In the meantime mince your garlic as finely as possible, finely chop the chilies and chop those plump tomatoes and grate the cheese. Leaving 2 basil leaves finely chop the rest. When the pasta has cooked for 4 minutes start making your sauce by heating up 2 tbsp olive oil and saute the garlic. Saute the garlic but do not brown them one bit. Add the chilies and then the tomatoes and basil and cook on medium flame mashing them with a masher from time to time. When you see little bubbles lower the heat to low flame and add salt and cover . Once the pasta is done drain it and give the sauce a good mash so that it is smooth and simply mix the sauce with the grated Parmesan reserving about a tablespoon . Use a spatula to make sure that the cheese has melted which it anyways will due to the heat from  the sauce. Mix the spaghetti with the sauce and arrange in a pasta bowl or dinner plate and sprinkle Parmesan cheese and garnish with the basil leaves. Its simple easy , quick and a lover's delight. Oh by the way its red the colour of passion. Ah but did you know that basil is an aphrodisiac. So make anyday of the year a Valentine's special dinner with this easy simple delightful recipe which is tangy with the fresh sweetness of basil and the delightful fieriness and creamy cheesy taste.


Now what is Valentine's Day without some chocolaty indulgence.

Try some Swiss truffles, smooth silky soft and delicious inside with a nutty coating or a solid chocolate coating








This is part of Kolkata Food Blogger's Love on Plate  do check our Page for scrumptious dishes you might prepare for your romantic partner

Cafe Churchill

Hidden among a million shops on the Colaba Causeway on the left side of the street when coming from Regal Cinema it is quite possible that one has walked past this tiny haven and not even noticed it. To be fair my only agenda to go to Colaba on a warm (to be truthful almost hot) sunny February afternoon was to dine at this place. After a delightful lunch I realized how right I had been to have added to my wishlist of restaurants to be visited in Bombay.

The decor is a perfect amalgamation of the old and the new. While the walls are redone to a humble modern lilac colour the old wooden menu that hangs from the walls or the beautiful iron grills on some windows is an ode to the past. The place cannot host too many people at one time and I was lucky to have gotten in without waiting. As luck would have it I was seated right next to the big glass refrigerator where they keep all those tempting desserts all of which looked exquisite.

A menu is handed over to you which has the prices written on it and well they have added some items since the days of the wooden menu-tablet on the wall. I had come for some juicy steak and so I chose the hash steak. I must mention here that their menu is extensive and they have something for all pockets .The smiling server asked me if I wanted it medium or well done. I wanted mine medium to well done to which he replied , 'Ah you like your's just perfect' Well when a restaurant appreciates a diner's taste all one can do is wait with breathless apprehension. 8 minutes later I found a beautiful steak with a side of grilled carrots and french beans , mashed potato and a delicious looking steak was served by one server while another was holding a gravy boat very carefully with both hands which seemed a bit unnatural at first and only when they placed it on my table did I realize the reason for the fuss. The gravy boat was filled to the brim so you cannot complain about the serving size.

Well my first bite into the steak and I knew that this would become one of my favourite restaurants. The steak was perfectly done to my taste. It was tender enough to easily use your knife and well perfectly juice yet not overdone. The gravy was amazingly good. From its taste I was certain that it had the full fatty goodness. The little bits of smoked chicken bacon was an additional delight. They had chopped a few french fries in the gravy and I must say it was a surprise bonanza.

While I was enjoying my delightful lunch Aunt Churchill asked me after my meal. Well there might be many a fancy restaurants where the managers ask you the same question but if I ever find one who has as much warmth as aunt churchill did I would be touched. She is constantly on her toes making sure every diner leaves satisfied. With a few tables to look after she personally sees to it that you are not kept waiting.
I was even more impressed when I asked for a glass of water and well at first she had of course asked one of the servers to serve it but finding him busy at another table she personally brought me a glass of water. If this is not being the best host possible I do not know what is.

I was well fed and satisfied yet I simply could not leave without indulging in some dessert . After all I was seated right next to the glass door with all that goody inside. I asked for the Irish Bailey which they did not have and so I asked them for the house special. The grinning server told em all that was on the other side of that glass door was house special . Being a coffee lover I settled for the Irish coffee cheesecake. They took the entire cheesecake to the kitchen and brought back a delightfully large slice of cheesecake. While they were slicing and placing it on my plate I was almost regretting having ordered it since I was quite full but one bite and I knew I would never regret it. A very strong taste of coffee left be giddy like a little girl. I savoured every bite and asked for the bill. The server simply said , '495' so there wasn't really a printed  bill but I did not really mind. Such an amazing lunch for a mere Rs500 seemed every bit the value for money.

While I loved my experience and believe that having had such a scrumptious meal and having met the loveliest of hosts  I shouldn't even try and find any faults I must be honest and so the only reason I would rate is say a 4.5 out of 5 is because of the absence of fresh fruit juices from their menu. Their offering of beverages is limited but then again with an extensive menu for delightful dishes I must say it makes up for more than enough for me. I am definitely going back again and again and again, and I highly recommend this place to any person who loves  western cuisine. 

Refried Beans

Meaty Refried beans 

Now what is Comfort food? Most of the time comfort food is associated with nostalgia and childhood. Sometimes we create our own nostalgia and then that simply becomes a comforting dish. I have always had this fascination for cuisines from all over the world and how one can find a thin thread holding all the cuisines which are a world apart from each other. The re-fried beans is one such dish which is what I call food that comforts me. While they can be made in different ways I like mine Beany and meaty . While I have never seen Pinto beans in my life after reading many a blogs of real people and their real-life stories I figured out in India I could use the "Chitra Rajma" to create my re-fried beans. With inspiration from a recipe which belonged to someone's great-grandmother I made my own re-fried beans and it has become a staple comfort food for me. I served it with hoemamde Salsa roja , cheese sauce and nachos and that was one of the best parties ever.

Now coming to my meaty beans, in a tropical country such as India eating too much of red meat is not one of the wisest decisions and due to many a dietary restrictions Pork meat is a meat which is not available easily and even if available it is not always hygienic. So one has to carefully choose one's shop. Thankfully in Calcutta we have a very hygienic cold storage started by a Hungarian gentleman some 60 to 70 years ago. Over the years his family dispersed and he ultimately left his right hand man as the owner of this wonderful cold storage. Till date they stuck to the Hungarian gentleman's recipes and produces delicious sausages, hams and other cold cuts along with some meat.

For this particular recipe I have used their bacon and what they call "Hungarian sausages" which is a dried garlicky sausage delicious to the very core.

So here comes the recipe

Serves 4 to 6 servings

1.5 cups chitra rajma
5 bacons  chopped in little bits
4 dried sausages chopped (It is better to use one with garlic flavour)
7 to 8 garlic cloves (Indian medium sized. These are about 1/4th the size of the usual large cloves available outside India)
2 medium sized red onions
Salt and pepper as per taste


Soak the beans overnight with 4 times the amount of water. Drain them and then cook them with triple the amount of water and salt the next day till its well cooked. You will be left with the boiled beans and water. reserve this water.

Grease your pan (just brush with a bit of oil) and fry your bacon (when frying bacon it anyways leaves behind a lot of fatty liquid) and sausage and keep aside along with some bacon grease and saute the minced garlic till the aroma of garlic fills your kitchen and then saute the onions to a translucent stage. Add the beans and the water bring to a roaring boil and then taste to check if more salt is required since some salt is added while boiling the beans and add salt as per taste and 1 heaped tsp freshly ground black pepper and simmer for  15 minutes or so. Cool this and blend it away using a bit of the water with which you have cooked the beans. I used more than 3/4th of the water to make a smooth blend. Now simply heat  the reserved bacon grease and add your blend beans along with the fried bacon bits and crumble 3/4th  the amount of sausage and mix well. After 2 minutes transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with the remaining sausage pieces. This is one fatty comfort that anyone who loves meat cannot resists. My friends couldn't resist helping themselves again and again to this mashed meaty delight. They scooped this with their nachos but this mashed delight served as a filling with some sauteed bell pepper and homemade cheesy sauce and  homemade flat-bread is a real treat as well.

Salsa Roja

Roja means red and this salsa is red, hot and will blow your mind. You see a quick search will yield 17 variants of salsa. The easiest cooked Salsa is this delicious Tomato based one from Mexico and Southwestern USA. It literally translates to "Red sauce" and the simple salsa is an excellent dip be it with nachos, crisps or simple raw vegetables as a delicious snack.

The ingredients are very simple . All you need is :-

To be fair this recipe might have served more than 4 people but whenever I make it vanishes in no time and well that's the beauty of this simple yet delicious recipe

800gm to 1 kg of plump red tomatoes
2 onions
3 to 4 ripened red chilies / dried red chili
1.5 to 2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cumin powder
Salt as per taste
2.5 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

Blanch the tomatoes and then skin them and chop. Saute the garlic in olive oil and when the beautiful aroma spreads throughout your kitchen add the onions and fry till translucent which means its soft and cooked but not golden and definitely not browned. Add the chilies and saute for a minute before adding the tomatoes. Masher with a masher and and salt and cumin powder. Cook till it reaches you desired consistency and add 1 tbsp of the coriander leaves. Once done coarsely blend it and garnish with the rest of the coriander leaves. This sauce is supposed to be chunky and deliciously spicy and red hot. Enjoy this lovely salsa 

Cheddar Pork Chops

There was a time when the idea of blogging was far-fetched but the Kitchen has always been my haven and with friends who were determined to keep a souvenir of the day I even have my hands on an image from the memorable day.

Now my best of friends loves Pork. I mean she can devour on Pork all day long. I personally wouldn't mind the chop once in a while but I am more of a ham sausage kind of girl but well when you have friends whose primary interest in life revolves around gastronomy you have plenty to rejoice about for you can whip, chop, sear , fry and they shall wait with eager anticipation. The other good thing about having such friends is that due to their love for food they wouldn't lie to you if there was some deficiency in your dish and so you always end up with improving yourself in case the dish needs a bit of changing etc. I still remember that cold day from January last year when I was hosting a dinner party and was cooking this Kashmiri mutton and even after 2.5 hours it wasn't soft enough and my friend didn't hesitate one bit to let me know that. I immediately let it simmer away for another hour and my lovely guests enjoyed it to the last bit and among the guests one aunt still talks about the dish whenever she meets me

Now food is a matter of choice. What one would love the other wouldn't. So you cannot always satisfy everyone. For instance lets take these pork chops. Some like theirs just cooked , some might want it a bit crispy, my friend likes it in all forms. This one is a bit on the crispy side , tender and juicy inside and wonderfully cheesy yet crisp outside.

Basically 1 pork chop would serve 1 person

So I am writing down my recipe per pork chop which serves 1

You need

1 Pork Chop (Fat trimmed with a little bit of fat left for the pork to be rendered in)
4 tbsp of freshly shredded cheddar
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp finely chopped fresh herb of your choice I used parsley
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Season your pork and press it down on the meat with your hands. make three incisions in the fatty section so that the chops do not curl up in your pan. Whisk the Olive oil and vinegar together and then add the herb salt and pepper and keep whisking and slowly add the cheddar and whisk to make a sauce. Now the cheddar wouldn't melt and that is alright.

Preheat oven to 180 C . Simply brush the a pan with butter and put it on high heat and then slowly add the chops and cook for 1.5 minutes on each side. Let it rest for 3 minutes and then grease your baking dish with butter and add the chops and use a generous amount of the fresh cheese sauce on both sides. Keep aside 2 tsp  cheese sauce aside. Bake for 20 minutes to 30 minutes using the butter on the pork chops after 5 minutes  and basting the meat with the juices twice during the length of baking. Let the chops rest for 5 to 7 minutes before serving. Serve it with cheese stuffed tomatoes , mashed potato and a few steamed greens . Take a tomato and hollow out the middle , stuff with the cheese sauce and grill it till the cheese melts and it sizzles.

Pork Chops with Sweet and Sour salad

Gordon Ramsay's Pork Chops with Sweet and Sour Bell Pepper Salad 

Well I was hosting a brunch. Now I have never hosted a dinner party or brunch where I personally do not know the people because knowing my guests is the key reason for my brunches. Now these friends were originally friends of my best friend who with the years united together for the love of food , movies travel etc. In fact when I was in Delhi I had a memorable day spent with one of my lovely guests in the Jawaharlal Nehru Campus eating a lovely dish of chili lamb and taking long walks in the middle of the night no to forget the wonderful street shopping the next day. 

I had planned the brunch a long time before the B-day and as is usually my style I asked them about preference, allergies etc and my dear friend told me she wanted something exotic from me which meant, usually unheard of dishes and expressly mentioned that she doesn't consider chicken and mutton to be meat anymore which actually made me very very happy because a reason for fatty pork chops is always welcome. 

While I planned and planned the other dishes I knew what I was doing with my pork chops. Back in September I was either watching TLC or Fox Travel or some channel on television  where Gordon Ramsay had shown this extremely easy and delicious looking pork chop and I simply typed in Ramsay Pork Chops and ah I hit the jackpot. It was right there on you tube and all I did was follow the recipe but with a mild change 

You see Ramsay cooks in Britain and I cook in Kolkata. While he can easily access any cut of meat he wants I am heavily dependent on one wonderful shop and while they deliver excellent quality of meat their pork chops are always 50% meat and 50% fat. In this matter I had to do a lot of trimming of fat because believe that amount of fat can give anyone a cardiac arrest. So instead of the olive oil Ramsay used in his pork chop I simply rendered the chops instead of using any olive oil. After the enormous success of this recipe I would say keep it simple keep it delicious

So what you need is basically extremely simple 

4 Pork chops 

salt and freshly crushed pepper

5 to 6 medium sized garlic unpeeled 

Bunch of thyme (In case Fresh Thyme is not available go for the Parsley) 

Butter to brush the pan 

Sweet and sour salad 

1 red bell pepper per person 

1 medium sized onion per person 

Half tbsp sugar 

2 tbsp olive oil 

salt and pepper 

A splash of balsamic vinegar 

1 tbsp fresh finely chopped basil 

Start with the salad. Thinly slice the onions and bell pepper. Heat the olive oil and add your pepper and onion and toss it around and add salt ,pepper , sugar and toss around for another half a minute and add your splash of balmasic vinegar. While it cooks away finely chop basil and add in the pan and toss everything and then place it on the dinner plates.  Once you cook your pork chop you simply add it atop the delicious salad. It takes not more than 8 minutes to cook this dish including chopping time. 

Ramsay gave a very valuable tip to prevent the chops from curling in the pan which is easily achieved by making slits on the fatty part alone. Season with salt and pepper and pound it lightly with your hands. If you have a good amount of fat simply heat the pan on high flame , brush it with butter and put your pork chops to be cooked and when it crackles put the herb and garlic unpeeled and crushed on the sides. Cook the meat for 5 to 7 minutes on each side and in between you must use a spoon to take the oily melted fat from the pan to bast the pork for tender juicy meat. Now use high heat for the first 1 to 2 minutes to seal the juices and then cook on medium heat so that it does not burn. To be fair Ramsay did use a good amount of butter while cooking the chops as well but mine had so much of fat that the Chops were literally swimming in the fatty goodness and I didn't have to add any butter. 

Ramsay's valuable tip for getting moist juicy chops is to let the Pork chop rest for the exact amount of time it takes to cook it before serving. When asked how it was my darling friend who is usually polished blurted out , "It is F****** awesome Oh F***" I asked, "Is it juicy? " to which the reply was "F****** juicy" 

I rest my case. 

Pollo Alla Milanese

So the most delicious things in life are the simplest ones. One such delight is the Pollo alla Milanese which is basically chicken breast beaten well to flatten it and then served with spinach and a tomato sauce but then Christmas is all about love is it not?

Well it actually goes back to the 26th when I was tryign to meet my deadline and was in a flurry of typing , listenign analsyizing etc and then the phoen rings and here si what happened:

H: "Where are you Manjari?" Me: " I am in my house why?" H: "Come out please" And holy Mother of God there he was standing in front of my house , my lanky bear of a husband. Well with his beard and all he can pass of as a bear , a lanky one at that standing with his luggage and a rose. Between transit to his hometown the dear man had made a stop and demanded that i immediately accompany him which was not possible since I had a deadline and a Christmas celebration which had been anyways fashionably postponed . With precious little time left since we came to an agreement of my traveling on the 30th I knew that a Dundee cake and whole roast would not be possible what with packing and all and so I decided on a simple recipe which did not require the oven.

So this cotoletta as the Italians would say might have originally been made of veal but i have read in blogs by people from that land of culinary delight that chicken is also acceptable hence from Cotoletta alla Milanese it becomes pollo (chicken) alla Milanese. Well authentic cotoletta is a cutlet fried bone in but i did get my chicken breasts all deboned from the butchers and used the bone for a fantastic stock for later usage .

Christmas is definitely all about relationships and so I had originally planned on the Pomodoro (tomato) sauce and spinach tossed around with garlic and olive oil but since I was going away I could help ask my best friend which sauce she would prefer and she said she would want the white based sauce and so the dish finally came to represent the Italian flag. My dear friend and cousin gobbled up both sauces and from the way they were engrossed in the dish I can say that my Christmas was most definitely a wonderful one. Now Bechamel sauce is essentially French but add a bit of nutmeg and Parmesan and you have Italian white sauce

Anyways the most obvious reason for choosing this lovely dish is because of its sheer simplicity and here is what you do

Use 1 chicken breast per person and flatten it with a mallet Ah but before that this is what you need

Chicken breast 1/2 per person
Salt and pepper
Olive Oil
Homemade breadcrumbs Handful for 2 breasts
1 egg per breast (again the size of eggs vary greatly)
Roughly 50gm all purpose flour per breast


For the pomodoro sauce (Tomato sauce)

8 large plump tomatoes
3 to 4 large sized garlic cloves which when minced should yield about 2.5 tbsp garlic (You see the size of the garlic varies from place to place)
Salt and pepper
2 to 3 tsp red chili flakes
Handful of fresh basil
1tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the special Italian bechamel sauce

3 tbsp of silky smooth almond paste
3tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups of whole milk
6 tbsp cream
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper
A good handful of Parmesan cheese

For the spinach

I used about 500gm of spinach
3 tbsp minced garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

The recipe is basically very simple.

Start with the sauces . Simple blanch the tomatoes and chop chop chop. Use about 4 tbsp olive oil and saute minced garlic and add the chili flakes and half the chopped basil and quickly add the tomatoes and stir and cook on medium flame till it bubbles and add salt , pepper and the rest of the basil then mash a bit and simmer till you get a thick sauce.

For your white Italian bechamel sauce simply melt the butter and add the smooth nut paste and the milk and quickly add salt, pepper , nutmeg half the cheese and stir continuously so that no lumps are formed to make a smooth silky sauce and then add the other half of the cheese and mix well. You can also first bring the milk to a boil with the nutmeg salt and pepper and simmer it for 5 to 7 minutes then melt butter add nut paste and the flavoured milk and cheese and simmer while stirring continuously.

All you need to do is flatten the chicken a bit and season with salt and pepper and then simply roll around in the flour and then dip in whisked eggs and coat well with breadcrumbs so that no bit is left un-coated and then fry in the olive oil. The flavour of this cutlet comes from the frying in olive oil and this one must never substitute with other oils else it seizes to be Pollo alla Milanese from Italy and believe me the flavour of the olive oil fried cutlet is superb. Here is a little tip with your breadcrumbs. The fresher it is the better it is of course and nothing beats homemade ones but adding a bit of salt, pepper and dried oregano gives an amazing flavour.

Once you are done with the chicken. Simple add 5 to 6 tbsp olive oil to a hot pan and add the minced garlic and the chopped spinach and cook on high heat for not more than 3 minutes to retain the colour and flavour. Over-cooking renders the spinach bitter.

You have your beautiful meal waiting for you and everybody to appreciate

Dundee Cake

Dundee Cake

With love from Scotland Dundee Cake 

So its the time of the year when parents suddenly become Santa Claus and children who are still gullible think that Santa travels all the way from his snow land on his sledge drawn by Rudolf to climb down the chimneys and leave the presents. parents threaten children the rest of the year with ,"If you do not behave yourself Santa will not bring any presents for you". Looking back at the Christmases what I most vividly remember is the Christmas holidays being my favourite holiday from school due to the long vacation and the treats and well when I was young my mother would tell me how Jesus was born on the 25th of December and a little devil was born exactly one month later. Not caring that I was being refereed to as the little devil I would listen to her stories wide eyed because it was only when she was telling me stories that my mother was not disciplining me or coming back from office to say, "Did you while away your time again"

Christmas for me never meant big parties with lots of people because my "quiet and peace loving" parents would pack up and decide on a place "Far Away from the madding crowd" at any little possibility. And every Christmas we would go to the hill stations which during the 90s and early 2000s would be all calm and quiet because most tourists would avoid cold places during the cold season in India but both my mountaineer parents loved it and soon I realized my heart belongs to the mountains especially the eastern Himalayan range though my parents would mostly head to the Western Himalayas for the expeditions and treks but when it came to our annual trips we mostly stuck to  the mountains which lies yonder in the northern part of West Bengal.

Our trips were usually predictable. What was a definitive inclusion was walking the entire day and yes I was bullied into walking with my own backpack and realizing how much I enjoy it today. Another essential part of our trips were a somewhat heavy breakfast, lunch carried in our backpacks which usually consisted of bread,chocolates, fruits, crisps , biscuits snacking on steaming soups and momos (a dumpling ) etc and a dinner of chicken curry.

The most exciting day of the trips for me would be of course Christmas day when Santa would pay me a visit  which was the highlight of the day. What I loathed were those rich dry fruit cakes which were a must inclusion for Christmas Day's lunch and snacking. Oh no matter how earnestly I would pray on Christmas eve that Santa get us a nice creamy chocolate cake it was always those fruit laden cakes staring me in my eyes the next day.

Over the years the timing of the trips have been freely moved thanks to my completion of education and the excessive crowds in the hills during the holidays these days. India sure has grown its resistance to cold and well of course then there is global warming. So we usually chose a time when its all quiet on the mountain front.

Well anyways coming back to cakes as I grew up despite my dislike for fruit cakes I would religiously go to the age old Flurry's (a heritage bakery of Calcutta) for their rich fruit cakes and then one Christmas I saw something which interested me, a round cake with almonds in circular patterns all over the cake. Turned out to be the Dundee cake . I bought one and was well finally this was something which made me very very very happy. With its crumbly texture and almond laden top it was what my taste buds needed.

Then I realized that what made me dislike the fruti cakes were the inclusion of cashew nuts and sweetened pumpkins something which probably takes place in India alone. Anyways so this year I decided on the Dundee cake, presenting Scotland's very own fruit cake, not very rich , needs no soaking and with a kiss of whiskey. What makes it unique is the inclusion of marmalade.

Interestingly Dundee has a very nice little story attached to it. Legend has it that Mary Queen of Scots disliked cherries and so a fruit cake was made in her honour which included a lot of almonds and there is also another legend of her having introduced marmalade to Scotland but then legends are legends. What is definitive is that Keiller's started producing marmalade in huge massive quantities which is an important ingredients for Dundee cake and as per them they were the ones who produced Dundee cake in masses and invented it. Well I do not know who invented this cake but yes this is one of the best fruit cakes I have had. Laden with figs, apricots, raisins, sultanas , currants and almonds this one is fully laden yet its crumbly light texture is simply delicious, the marmalade and orange peel gives it that perfect touch of citrus aroma and flavour.

I followed Dan Lepard's recipe and am ever grateful to him for giving some extremely valuable tips. I did look around and gather some other  useful tips which ended in the perfect crumbly rich wonderful cake.

So what you need is

175gm of unsalted butter
175gm of brown sugar
250gm of all purpose flour
baking powder (Now here is the thing about baking powders, it does vary as per country, so while using do read the label please, mine asked me to use 2tsp for every 450gm and so I used my eyes and it was somewhat well say a little more than 1 tsp but you should really read your label because excessive baking powder leads to a funny zinc like bitter taste and too little will make your cake not fluff up 0
180gm of soft de-seeded apricots chopped in little pieces
75gm of chopped dried figs
100gm of sultanas
75gm of currants de-stemmed completely
75gm of raisins
150gm of glazed cherries pitted and halved and dried
80gm of almond flour (What I did was simply blanch them and dry them and toast them and grind them but please do not grind them since nuts have oil and if you grind for too long you end up with a lumpy greasy mass)
25ml of warm water
1 tbsp grated orange zest
2 tbsp marmalade
3 eggs (I did use the big sized ones and the country eggs not the poultry ones for maximum taste and flavour)
100gm of blanched and halved almonds
2 tbsp whiskey

Start by lining your baking tin ( 6 inch to 7 inch) . Now most people will advice you to not grease the pan post using the parchment paper but that is essential to make sure that the greasing and dusting is done to easily peel off the parchment paper once done with baking. i am sure it will not be a hilarious story to tell when your guests end up with a little paper for extra taste :)

It is always useful to get things done from before so I did chop my apricots, figs , cherries etc the previous night of baking . On the B-day (baking day) grease your tin if using a nonstick tin and then place the parchment paper and then grease and dust. It is always helpful if you do this ahead of time.

First sift your flour and baking powder together . Now start by first creaming your butter with sugar. Here is something interesting that blew my mind. I usually use a hand held non electronic whisk and today for some reason i went even more old school and started the process of softening the butter with the back of a massive spoon and believe me the result of fluffiness was simply amazing. I went on to cream my butter and sugar with my whisk. It was something that just disappeared in my mouth , it was lighter than air :P I added my marmalade and orange zest and then 75gm of your sifted flour and whisk and then add the eggs one by one and keep whisking and now you are done with the whisk . Now is your time to preheat your oven to a 140 C , then use a spatula to fold in the flour and lastly the dry fruits. At this point you need all your strength, there is a reason why some women who bake have no jiggy wiggies hangign out from those arms :P

 The mixture will feel very rich and tight. Add 20ml warm water and mix well with spatula. Fold it in your prepared baking tin. Now here is a very useful tip. Wet your hands and smooth the top so that you need up with a even topped cake. So you think you should arrange your almonds now , no all in good time my loves all in good time.

Place a flat dish with raised sides filled with boiled water in the middle of the oven, use a rack and place the cake in the middle and bake for 50 minutes. This placing of water beneath the rack makes sure that you keep your cake moist since like most fruit cakes this requires at least 2 hours 50 minutes of baking. Now is your time to carefully take out the cake and quickly arrange your almonds in circular patterns. i did preheat it again at 140 C and it took a few minutes and then baked it for another 2 hours. If your skewer comes out perfectly clean you are done. Use a toothpick , no big skewer please to make little holes and feed the cake your whiskey.

Enjoy this crumbly yet rich cake with your afternoon tea.

I proudly am entering this with Kolkata food Blogger's Baking palooza 2013

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Gatto Di Patate (Potato Pie all the way from Italy)

So when there is a special lunch to be prepared you take your time on deciding the menu. You read so many articles that you become confused and then suddenly you hit the jackpot. A treasure of a blog all the way from Italy. A dish which is cheesy, creamy, fluffy and meaty and one you  know you shall serve it no matter what. Extremely easy this one is a keeper. It seems this is very popular in both Sicily  and Campania . of course I did use locally smoked ham instead of mortadella but the end result was that every crumb was licked clean off the plate.

You need:

500gm potatoes
Pinch of nutmeg
8 tablespoonful of Parmesan cheese
100gm of mozzarella cheese
Salt as per taste
1 large egg
200gm of smoked ham
3 to 4 tablespoonful of unsalted butter
250gm breadcrumbs

Boil and mash potatoes with the egg, salt, nutmeg , butter and Parmesan cheese. Butter the pan and fill it with breadcrumb which helps in de-moulding the pie else it will stick to the sides and you can never get it out. So be generous when sprinkling with the breadcrumbs. Now fill half the pan with the mashed potatoes and press down with wet hands and top it with breadcrumbs , add your meaty layer and on top of it goes the thinly sliced mozzarella cheese and then the rest of the mashed potatoes and top it with a good amount of breadcrumbs. Bake in preheated oven of 180 C for 45 minutes. This is a real treat.