Chicken pot-roast Raj style!

This dish can be made either with a whole chicken trussed up for roasting or with a jointed one. Either way will produce good results. People familiar with flavours of Raj cooking will go all nostalgic over this one!

The intermingling of flavours in this pot-roast conjure up images of the British memsahib introducing her bawarchi (native cook) to the nuances of 'refined' tastes and the tug of war that must have taken place with the bawarchi, trying to retain some of the local flavour. A great many of these concoctions have resulted in some truly amazing dishes. 

Chicken                          1.1 kg, jointed, cleaned and wiped dry

Flour                              1 Tbls

Salt to taste

Oil                                  2 Tbls

Sugar                             2 tsps

Onion, chopped             ½ cup

Garlic paste                   1 ½ Tbls    

Ground pepper              2 tsps

Worcester sauce             1Tbls

Hot water for sprinkling during the cooking process

Method

Prepare the chicken. Sprinkle the flour and salt on to the chicken, rubbing in well. Ensure that the chicken is dry before you add the flour or else it will interfere with even browning.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan. Add the sugar and allow it to caramelize to a rich dark brown. In the absence of modern day browning agents, which are bad for ones' health anyway, this age old method of colouring food is excellent. I use this method all the time!

Adding the onions next and allowing the natural sugars present to caramelize further enhances the colour of the final product.

The chicken can now be added along with the next three ingredients. Stir until well blended. Sprinkle hot water if you find the spice mixture sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Cover the pan and cook on low heat until the oil separates from the spice mixture which should now be clinging to the succulent pieces of chicken. This process should take about 40 minutes. Remove chicken pieces onto serving platter.

To prepare the gravy

Wine (opt)                     2 -3 Tbls

Chicken stock                1 cup

Flour                              1 Tbls

Salt and pepper

After removing the chicken onto a platter you need to deglaze your sauté pan in order to make gravy for your roast. I do say in my recipe that the addition of wine for deglazing is optional. However, if you do have access to alcohol it will certainly be worth the effort.

Most western cookbooks suggest the addition of wine or any alcohol for deglazing a sauté pan. Now there is a very valid reason for this.

 Alcohol is a powerful flavour extractor. It has the ability to coax out and carry flavours which remain in the food even after the alcohol has boiled off.

If wine is not available, beer or vodka can be used.

After the alcohol has evaporated, pour the chicken stock into the pan and heat gently. Remove pan from heat and strain the stock to filter out any bits of food. Make a paste of the flour and a small amount of cooled stock and blend it into the stock in the pan. Cook over gentle heat, stirring all the time until the mixture thickens and takes on a sauce like consistency. Check seasoning and serve along with the pot-roast.

Buttered vegetables and bread will complement the dish.

Buttered vegetables

Blanch any vegetable of your choice. Drain thoroughly. Toss in a Tbls of butter. Season to taste.

Baked fish and Salads Assamese style

Assam is home to a host of diverse ethnic groups, each one having a traditional cultural heritage.

Pre- independent India saw Assam as one in the group of seven states, in the northeastern part of the country, which came to be known as the Seven Sisters.  Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura formed the rest of the group.

Linked to one another geographically, the Seven Sisters encouraged barter and trade, which in turn led to the intermingling of cultures.

Although independent India, today, sees each of these states as separate entities the assimilated flavours remain.

Not many cuisines in the world have universal appeal. Unfamiliar cuisines are acquired tastes and Assamese cuisine falls into this category. One reason may be that the Assamese people have never been able to market themselves or their culture aggressively.

I remember being asked, when I was in school, whether I required a passport to go to Assam!

So little was known about the region that it was almost non-existent on the map of India. Then, suddenly there it was – Assam on the map of the world as a state in India that created Ulfa, one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world. Who would have thought that the mild mannered, laid-back Asomia (people of Assam) could group together and hold the entire country to ransom?

Assamese cuisine is unique in its simplicity. It is characterized by the absence of robust flavours typical of Indian cuisine. The prolific use of fresh exotic herbs, fruits and vegetables is what makes this cuisine so wonderful in its simplicity.

Typically, an Assamese meal centers around rice, which is the staple food grown in the state.

Fish is widely eaten, and it is not uncommon to find pukhuris (ponds) in the backyards of many Assamese homes where a variety of small and sometimes large fish is grown.

Lingering flavours in Assamese cuisine come from mustard oil and mustard seeds, fenugreek, cumin and black pepper, whole spices like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf and of course the ubiquitous panch phuron.

Today’s post has a recipe for the ever so popular Patot diya Maas or fish baked in banana leaves. Traditionally, this preparation cooks over a coal fire and has a wonderful smoky flavour to it.  Your outdoor barbeque would also be a good choice.

However, in the absence of a coal fire or a barbeque you can cook the fish in your oven, as my recipe suggests.

I must mention here that the fish eaten in Assam is primarily fresh water fish such as Rohu, Katla  etc. A variety of small fish is also eaten and savoured. A word of caution though! These varieties of fish, delicious as they may be are loaded with small bones and you have to be as adept as the Assamese in separating the flesh from the bones before swallowing the tasty morsels!


I live in Chennai and I have been using sea fish that is freely available here to make this particular dish with great success. Besides, fish without bones is the only way that I can get my family to eat fish!
Fish baked in banana leaves (Assamese) Serves 4

Fish fillets [Seer or any other fleshy fish]       ½ kg

Unblemished banana leaf                           1 large

Oil for smearing on the leaf   

Marinade

 Mustard oil                                                   1 Tbs

Whole grain mustard paste                         2 Tbs

Salt                                                                1 ½ tsp

Lime or lemon juice                                      2 Tbs

Peeled and sliced onions                            1 cup. Marinate in lime juice.

Coriander leaves, chopped                         1 cup

Green chillies slit                                           4 – 5 or more

Ghee (clarified butter)                                   1 Tbs

  

Method:

Wash and dry fish fillets thoroughly. Whisk all the ingredients for the marinade together and marinate the fish fillets in this mixture for a couple of hours or overnight in the fridge.

Remove the central rib from the banana leaf and discard. Clean the leaf with a wet sponge so that it is free from any dust or grit. You will need to cut the leaf into 3 to 4 rectangular shapes about 10” x 12” each, in order to wrap the fish fillets for baking. It doesn’t matter if you get uneven sizes. They can be placed side-by-side overlapping one another.

Fresh banana leaves are crisp and therefore difficult to handle since they tear very easily. To make them limp and more pliable, place them on a hot griddle for a few seconds or in a microwave oven on high power for about 10 seconds. They are now ready for use.

Smear the leaves with oil. Place a layer of the marinated fish in the center of the banana leaf, leaving a border of about 4” all around. Sprinkle the marinated onions, coriander leaves and green chillies on top of the fish layer. Alternate the layers until all the ingredients have been used up. Dot with the ghee.

Fold the border of the banana leaf up to cover the fish completely, using more leaves if necessary to make a neat parcel.

Place the parcel on a 10” x 10” greased baking tray (seam side down) and bake in a hot oven for about 30 minutes.

To test for doneness, poke with a skewer. The fish will flake easily.

Remove the outer banana leaves carefully and discard. Lift the cooked fish very gently along with the leaf on which it is resting onto a serving plate and serve as a side dish along with rice and dhal or as a main dish accompanied with buttered vegetables and a crisp salad.

Die-hard Asomia s will surely squirt more mustard oil on to the fish before eating it!

The banana leaves

The ingredients

Tied up in a neat parcel prior to baking

After baking

Sometimes, I make a meal of this dish accompanied by a salad and maybe buttered vegetables on the side. I am posting a couple of salad recipes which have a truly Assamese flavour because of the unconventional dressing that is used. I have to add that some of my friends with conservative taste buds have also been converted!

Mixed salad Assamese style

This is amongst the prettiest salads I have ever seen. The combination of vegetables and the dressing is what makes it so distinctively Assamese.

Like with any other salad, add the dressing just before serving.

Boiled beetroot, shredded                  1

Radish shredded                                 1

Cucumber, shredded                           1

Raw spinach, chopped fine                10 – 15 leaves

Tomatoes, sliced                                  2

Onions, sliced                                       2

Coriander leaves, chopped                1 cupful

Ginger, shredded                                2 Tbs

Green chillies cut into slivers              3 – 4

Dressing

Lime juice                                           1 to 1 ½ Tbls

Salt to taste

Mustard oil                                          1 to 2 tsps

Radish and greens salad

This is another combination of vegetables that makes a delicious salad; using the same dressing.

White radish                               2, sliced into thin rounds (about 2 cups)

Spinach leaves, chopped         1 cup

Coriander leaves, chopped      2 Tbls

Green chillies, sliced                 1 to 2 or more

Setting the Assamese dinner table is incomplete without a small plateful of lime cut into quarters, green chillies, a small bottle of mustard oil and salt. The heat in the food is predominantly from the green chilli and black pepper. The use of chilli powder is an external influence though dried red chillies are used to temper dhal.

Mock Orange Bavarian Cream.

Have you ever heard of a Bavarian Cream without Crème Anglaise as one of the main ingredients? Well you have now because I have tried to demystify this classic!

The idea was born when I was trying to get together recipes for egg less desserts. I chanced upon this old cookbook where I found a recipe that hinted at something that might have tasted like a cross between a blancmange and a soufflé. Therefore, I decided to tweak it. This is what emerged!

Serves 6-8

Gelatin                                                            4 1/2  level tsps

Orange juice                                                   1 ¾ cups

Fanta *                                                            1 ¾ cups

Lime or lemon juice                                         2 to 3 Tbls

Condensed milk                                              1 tin (400 gms)

Fresh cream                                                   200 ml

Orange segments with skin removed, for garnishing

Method

  

Soften the gelatin in ½ cup of orange juice and dissolve this over a pan of hot water until it reaches the consistency of egg white. Set aside.

Combine the orange juice, Fanta and the lemon juice along with the condensed milk. Whisk the dissolved gelatin into this mixture until well blended and refrigerate, until the mixture thickens and begins to set.

Whip the fresh cream over a bowl of ice until it holds its shape. Fold into the orange mixture gently. Pour into a glass dish or an oiled aluminum mould and place inside the fridge until set.

Decorate with orange segments and rosettes of cream. If set in a mould, unmould onto a wet plate in order to be able to center the dessert. Pipe rosettes of cream around it. Set aside in the fridge until ready to serve.

* Any aerated orange drink will do.

For easy unmoulding of any gelatin-based dish: Dip a kitchen towel in hot water. Squeeze dry and wrap the hot towel around the mould for about 30 seconds. Invert a serving plate over the mould and turn the plate along with the mould over. The dessert should slip out with ease. 


Note on gelatin: Ensure that the temperature of the gelatin and that of the mixture to be set is about the same.
If the mixture is much colder, the gelatin will form unpleasant glutinous strands on contact with the mixture.
If however, the gelatin is colder than the mixture, it will sink to the bottom and form a separate layer.

A Summery Moulded Salad.

I was around 12 years old when I ate my first  moulded salad. My family and I had been invited for lunch at the Madras Race Club.

The cook at the club who must have trained under a British memsahib used to conjure up the most amazing fare! The first course was crab baked in its shell accompanied by this wonderful cold moulded seafood salad. All I can say is that I was sold for life!!

You can really use your imagination and innovate as you go along. seafood, chicken, paneer, tofu.

Even nuts and dried fruit would be wonderful.

If you have some leftover Biriyani the moulded salad would become a complete meal! Try it out.

Cheesy vegetable salad mould        Serves 4 – 6

Gelatin                                     2 Tbls + 1 tsp

Water                                      1 cup

Fresh Cream                            1 ½ cups

 Curd/ Yogurt                         ½ cup

Mayonnaise                             ½ cup

Worcester sauce                      2 Tbls

Chilly sauce                             2 tsp [opt]

Tomato sauce                          3-4 Tbls

Grated cheese                         ½ cup

Capsicum (bell peppers)         seeded and finely chopped, 3 Tbls

Spring onions                           finely chopped, 3 Tbls

Celery                                      finely chopped, 3 Tbls

Cucumber*                                finely chopped, 3 Tbls.

 Salt to taste

Hard-boiled egg and seedless grapes for garnishing.

Method

Soak the gelatin in about 5 Tbs of cold water until spongy. Place the container with the gelatin in a double boiler and heat until completely dissolved. The gelatin should now look like the white of an egg. Keep warm.

Combine the fresh cream, curd, mayonnaise, the Worcester, chilly and tomato sauces.

 Gradually add the warm gelatin along with the rest of the water, to the fresh cream mixture, stirring all the while until well blended. Stir in the cheese and chill the mixture either over a bowl of ice, or in the refrigerator, stirring occasionally until the mixture starts to thicken.

At this stage, fold in the chopped vegetables; check seasoning and pour the mixture into a well-oiled mould. Leave to set in the fridge until firm.

Unmould onto a bed of lettuce, and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg and seedless grapes.

* This vegetable starts releasing its juices once chopped. You need to drain this water before adding the cucumber into the gelatin mixture or else it will upset the gelatin water ratio thereby affecting the setting point. Always taste the cucumber for bitterness before adding it to the salad.

How Green Is My Valley!

 I conjure up a kaleidoscope of images when I think of Assam, which is in the North Eastern part of India and my childhood home.

Lush green valleys through which the mighty Brahmaputra flows, miles and miles of paddy fields, a wealth of flora and fauna peculiar to the region and the home of the one horned rhino are some images, to name a few.

The soil is fertile and growth of vegetation abundant. As a child, I remember being told that if I threw the pips of an orange out of the window, we would soon have an orange tree growing where the pips fell. Rather like Jack and the bean stalk!

Of course, I never did risk throwing the pips out of the window for fear of a tree growing so high that it reached the clouds. I didn’t want any “fee fie fo fums” climbing down into my garden!!

The last time I was in Assam, I visited my niece’s farm- a hundred acres of sheer paradise!  Rolling hills with teak forest cover, orchards replete with fruit, cultivated anthuriums and a large water body teeming with fish. The forests attract an assortment of wildlife like barking deer, porcupine, and monkeys with the odd leopard sometimes straying in as close to human habitation as it dared! 
Far from the madding crowd, it was balm to soothe tired nerves; the perfect antidote to the pressures of everyday city life.
          

           

                

                            

I find the vegetables in Assam tastier than in most places within the country and outside. This state alone boasts of over a hundred varieties of leafy greens, which form an integral part of the Assamese diet. In fact, during one of our harvest festivals, Rongali Bihu, it is customary to eat a preparation made out of as many varieties of greens that are available at that time! A combination of seven varieties is a must!

A great many of these greens are also of medicinal value, knowledge of which has been passed down to us by the older generation and still used by the local people in the treatment of various ailments.


Assamese cuisine overall is simple to the point of being called bland. Not much use of spices most of the heat is derived from the green chilli. Chillies come in different shapes and sizes and in varying levels of heat. In fact, Tezpur in Assam is home to the hottest chilli in the world----- the Bhoot Jolokia!!

The cooking medium is mustard oil and the spice most often used is Panch phuron, which is a combination of five spices.
Mustard,Cumin, Nigella, Fenugreek and Fennel.

People in Bengal and Orissa also use Panch phuron in their cooking. Mustard oil is a common cooking medium. However, the most significant parallel one can draw between these states in India is that we are predominantly rice and fish eaters.

The recipe I am posting today is for leafy greens Assamese style!

It is fresh and very flavourful. Try it out!

Leafy greens               2 bunches (after picking and cleaning you should get around 8-10 loosely packed cupfuls)                                                   

                                            

Mustard oil                                         2-3 tsps

Panch phuron                                    ¾ tsp

Onion                                                 1, medium chopped (about ⅓ cupful)

Green chillies                                     2-3 or to taste

Garlic                                                    2-3 cloves, sliced, (about 1 Tbls)

Turmeric powder                              ¾ tsp

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves chopped,                        ⅓ cup

Method

Pick and wash leafy greens until completely clean and free from grit. Drain and spread out on a towel to dry. Use a salad spinner if available. Chop the greens fine.

In a wok, heat the oil to smoking point, lower heat and throw in the Panch phuron. The seeds will splutter and in about 10 to 12 seconds, they will start to colour a bit and release a wonderful aroma. Add the next three ingredients and sauté until limp.

Lower the chopped greens into the wok and sauté until the greens wilt. Add the turmeric powder and salt and blend well. The greens will probably release some water with the addition of salt. Keep sautéing until dry and glossy. If the greens are tender, they should be cooked by now. However, if you do have a few fibrous bits that need to cook some more, cover the wok partially until done.

Just before removing the wok from the fire, mix in the finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot as an accompaniment to the main meal.

In Assam, some of us like to eat these greens mixed in with our rice and topped with a few drops of mustard oil.