Potato-Beet Sliders and Fish Amritsari

(By Avani)Now, that I have got some time on my hands, decided to look up recipes for Beets.  Keep hearing about how nutritious it is but dont have too many fond "beet" memories from child hood.  Came across this potato-beet kebobs and loved the idea.  Here is my version, althought I decided to make little veggie burgers and present them as sliders.

Potato-Beet Sliders with Coriander Tzatziki Sauce

Mix mashed boiled potatoes, grated raw beets, finely chopped jalapenos, ginger-garlic paste, scallions and slightly crushed almonds.  Season with salt, red chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala, lemon juice.  Make it into small patties and pan fry. 
Had some left over tzatziki sauce, spiced it up with some coriander chutney and half-and-half to make a cheese substitute for the sliders.

Fish Amritsari

Marinate finger size pieces of any slightly hardy white fish (I used tilapia) with red chilli powder, lemon juice, crushed fennel seeds, garlic and a lot of lemon juice.  Set it aside for 20 minutes.  Mix an egg, half-and-half and a sprinkle some gram flour to bring it all together.  Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the fish pieces, serve with some tomato based dipping sauce.

Kokni Cauliflower & Kerala Chicken Masala

What's this Sunday nights cuisine? More from another blog 'live to eat'.
Last time I made 'Chicken Curry With Tamarind' and I found the curry a bit too weak for chicken but found it very much like the curry that my mom makes using Cauliflower - so today I made the curry and used Cauliflower!  Turned out good - but I had decided to improvise and make it a bit 'Maharashtrian' by adding a bit of sugar - turns out my hand was a bit too liberal...  Not bad but could have done with less sugar.

Offcourse I have to eat meat during the week - since the Tamrind curry turned out decent I am trying out another curry from the same blog: 'Kerala Chicken Masala' - will see how it turns out - the recipe is pretty straight forward....

(few hrs later)
Kerala chicken is fire! Awesome tasty but holy fire!
will post pic and recipe later - didn't deviate too much from the original recipe linked above - substituted actual tomatoes with tomato sauce, and instead of two cups of water used 1 cup of water. I like my gravies to have a bit of a body not to watery.

Trader Joes to the rescue

Haven't been going out due to wife's exam and had run our of stuff to eat at home... hmm
Well we'd picked up some frozen food from Trader Joe's during the week, it was to be our rescue meal and I didn't have high expectations.
Was I wrong - it was fabulous. 
Menu: Salmon pinwheels stuffed and Mushroom risotto - Very Very Yummy.  Something I'll definitely buy again.

Yamazushi Sushi restaurant Durham

Plus: Awesome service, good sushi, kickass teriyaki sauce! Will go again.
Minus: dull, we were the only ones in the restaurant on a Saturday night... kinda boring. Don't konw why this place didn't have more people, we've heard good things from other friends and we liked the food too.

What we had:
Salmon&Spinach spring rolls served with a teriyaki sauce & creamy mayo sauce - teriyaki sauce had an awesome kick!  Awesome sauce.  Good spring roll too.
Rainbow roll - standard rainbow roll with variety of fish on top
Fatty tuna - hadn't had this before, was yummy
Yellowtail & scallions - standard and done well.

Yamazushi sushi link: http://www.yamazushi.com/index.html

What to eat this weekend?

Option 1: http://blog.sigsiv.com/2008/07/a-chicken-curry-with-tamarind.html
Option 2: http://blog.sigsiv.com/2009/08/tamil-style-chicken-biryani.html

Chicken Chettinad

Review of end product: a bit too sweet - should have reduced the amount of onion, perhaps use smaller onions.  Have never eaten Chicken Chettinad so I don't have a reference point but the end product of this recipe is yummy - not as yummy as the west indian chicken curry made few weeks back - but still a good curry recipe that I'd definitely use again and would not mind serving guests.

Got recipe from http://solaiachiskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/03/chettinad-chicken-authentic-chettinad.html
Mods to the recipe:
1) I didn't have mint leaves
2) Figured out that Biringi leaves means bay leaves.
3) Used about 6 curry leaves
4) Didn't have kuzhambu milagai thool - used Priya Sambar Masala - 1 teasp
5) Instead of using 2 tomatoes I used 1/2 cup tomato sauce
6) Instead of using garlic - I used 12 pods of frozen garlic paste (Dorot) - 6 pods for her 10 garlic cloves, and 4 pods of Ginger - for her 1/2 in ginger.

Saute tomato paste:

End Product:

Recipe: (from Solai's blog - wanted it in mine with my small modifications for safe keeping :)

Ingredients
Chicken-1.3 lb
1 big onions
1/2 cup tomato paste
Garlic 10 pods (or 12 dorot pods of frozen garlic)
To grind No1
Ginger ½ inch piece (or 4 pods frozen dorot ginger
1 onion
Garlic-10 pods
Green chillies-2
Chili powder-1 table spoons
Coriander powder-2 table spoons

To grind No2
Coconut grated-5 table spoons (frozen - thaw and measure)
Cashew nut-10
Fennel seeds-1 teaspoon
To season
Cinnamon-2 pieces or 1/2 teasp of powder
Fennel seeds-1 teaspoon
Clove-2
Cardamom-2
Bay leaf - 3
Mint leaf (didn't have any)
Curry leaf (6 small ones)

To marinate
1 teaspoon kuzhambu milagai thool - Didn't have any used Priya Sambar masala
Salt-1 teaspoon
2 Tbsp Sour cream
Ginger garlic paste-1 teaspoon - used ginger powder & garlic powder


Procedure
(all on 5 heat - just below medium)
Mince all onions and  garlic put aside for sauteeing and for grind 1.
Heat oil in large pan. Season the oil with the items given in ‘to season’
Add 1 chopped onion and saute - 15 min - till onion starts to brown.
When the onions turn transparent add the garlic (10 cloves mashed or 6 pods - thawed), sauté for 2 min
Add tomato paste. Sauté till the whole thing gets creamy. - cooked for 10 min - add very little water if needed.
Add the grinded paste of items given in No 1. Sauté it for a while - 10-15 min - want to cook the onion in grind1.
Put masala to side of pan add chicken - let it sit for 2-3 min till bottom is brown then combine with masala
Reduce stove to 4 - cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
Once chicken is cooked increase heat to 5.
Once the curry gets thick add the masala grinded with the items given in No2 and mix nicely
Cook for another 10 minutes.
Add a bit of water if needed as you are cooking so you don't burn the masala as its cooking.
Once you start seeing oil remove from heat - you are done!

Last Weekend's batch cooking: Chicken Tikka masala

Here's the pic - will post recipe later.
Indegredients:
1) 1 large cubed chicken breast (the one I get is around 2lb)
2) can of small round potatoes - not necessary - I added these as my wife then gets a vegetarian option in the dish
3) 1/2 cup sour cream
4) Pack of 'Shan' Tandoori masala - from indian store - I make my own masala too but I like this one for color
5) paste from: 2 de-seeded chilis - I use jalapenos, 3 large garlic cloves, 1/2 tbsp ginger
6) 1 1/2 teasp chili powder
7) Garam masala - I make my own by using 5-6 cloves, 2 bay leaves, corriander seeds, cumin seeds, 2 teasp cinamon powder, 1/4 teasp nutmeg, 1 large brown cardamon or 1 teasp cardamon powder - I roast all these in a pan till corriander seeds are browned then i powder them in a mortar.
8) 1 14 Ounce can tomato sauce
9) 1 large yellow onion - finely diced - very finely
10) oil & ghee
11) sugar & salt

Process
1) I take the sour cream add equal amt of water and whisk together add 2 teasp of shan pack masala and set aside
2) 1 teasp garam masala to the tomato sauce in the can and set aside
3) To the chicken add some oil, thrown on some garam masala, shan masala, and marinate for 1/2 hr
4) Get potatoes out of can - rinse couple of times, then put them in a vege or chicken broth for 1/2 an hr - remove from broth and put same marinate as the chicken and set aside
5) While everything is marinating start sauteeing the onion till it's starting to brown
6) After onion is browned put it to side of pan add oil to center - after oil heats up add 1/2 the ginger, garlic, chili paste. When it smells add he chili powder and 1/2 the garam masala - let it brown in the hot oil and add the tomato sauce.
7) cover and cook for 20 min - adding some water or stock to the pan if needed
8) uncover blend with the onions which were off to the side of the pan - let cook for 5 more min
9) While the Tomatoe sauce was cooking in another pan add ghee and oil and sautee the chicken cubes - don't cook completely as they'll go in the gravy and cook through - just brown them and take them off heat.
10) Do same with potatoes
11) After step 8 tomatoes and onions have cooked - make space in center of pan add oil - let it heat add rest of garam masala, and ginger garlic chili paste - let it heat and brown the masala and add the chicken - stir everything together
12) slowly add potatoes
13) let everything simmer for 5 min with covered lid
14) Remove lid - add sour cream mixture - stir and cover lid and let cook for another 15-20 min - the oil will start to come to the top.
15) add 5 teasp of sugar and stir in, add 4 teasp salt - stir and cover and simmer for 5 min.
16) Taste great on day 1 but on day 3 it's fantastic!
17) Get some Naan from Trader joes and enjoy - you won't order Chicken Tikka Masala in a restaurant again!..

* You can substitute paneer for the potatoes.

Last weekend's batch cooking - Pav Bhaji

Did some batch cooking last weekend - made enough food for more than the week and avoided cooking through the whole week. Infact will be eating it today too - so enough food for 7 days.
Made two things
1) Pav Bhaji
2) Ammazing Chicken Tikka Masala

1) Pav Bhaji
What is Pav Bhaji? Literally translated - bread vegetable, it's a vegetable stew which you eat with bread. It's amazing street food that you get in Bombay and the rest of india. A sweaty guy sits over a large pan with this vegetable stew in the middle of the pan, it bubbles and he adds some water and a slab of butter to keep it cooking. When you give your order he slathers butter on the pan and lays on top this ammazing salty/yeasty slab of bread (slab of bread rolls).mmmm. Whenever I've had pav bhaji which is home made it's never hit the mark - always a bit on the sweeter side without the kick of the one I had in Mumbai... So my aim recreate the Pav Bhaji!
1) Start by acquiring the right bread - Go to Teeter and get an 'Italian Round/Italian Boule' - Perfect bread to slice and toast on butter in a pan.... almost nails the taste of the bread in India.
2) Next for the Bhaji - NO ONIONS! yes you can put some raw ones on top this is the tradition, but don't sautee onions and build the stew on top - I think this is what all home chef's do and it gives the bhaji a sweet flavor.

Process for making Pav Bhaji (credit for the recipe and the not using onions goes to: http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2005/04/bombay-street-food-pav-bhaji.html) I had to modify the recipe to use my own veges
Indgredients:
1/2 bag frozen cauliflower (thawed in microwave)
1/4 bag frozen peas (thawed in microwave with the cauliflower)
- after above two are thawed mash em together
1/2 liter vege stock (made at home prior week by boiling asparagus stems, left over onion bits, some carrot tops, the middle flesh/seeds of green peppers, 1 bay leaf) - No salt, no sugar, no pepper... (wife made stock)
4 Anahiem peppers (they were on sale) - cut very finely into little itty bitty pieces
4 medium sized white potatoes (not red, not idaho) - boil and mash
1/2 small cabbage - finely shred on mandolin
16 ounces Formanos crushed tomatoes (was almost a sauce - wasn't chunky)
2 tbsp ginger paste
2 tbsp garlic, chili (jalepeno) mince paste
1 teasp cilantro paste
1 tbsp butter & oil as needed
1 teasp turmeric
2 teasp chili powder
MDH Pav Bhaji masala (gotten at indian store) lots of this
Salt
Process:
Heat up butter till it bubbles in a large sautee pan (something with some depth), I mix some oil into the butter. Once hot add turmeric, and chili powder, lit it sit for a few sec after you smell it add 1/2 tbsp ginger paste 1 tbsp garlic&chili mince. Let it smell up - after it is incorporated into butter/oil and starts to smell add in cabbage. Cover and let cook for 10 min - or till cabbage is all wilted and doesn't smell too much like cabbage. It should shrink significantly.
Shove cabbage to edge of large pan and pour in some oil let it heat up add some more ginger, garlic, chili paste - after it smells add Anaheim peppers, stir everything after 5 min and add Cauliflower & pea mush, let it cook for 5 min and incorporate it into the cabbage. You might need to add some vege stock to keep it from not sticking to bottom.
Move aside everything after letting it cook for 5-10 min and repeat with oil and ginger, garlic, chili and add in cilantro paste too. This time add in 1/3 of the potato let it cook for a min and stir everything together, keep mixing and adding in slowly the rest of the potato.
Sprinkly MDH pav bhaji masala on top of everything (cover entire surface - if you want it very hot and spicy) - mustve been 1 1/2 tbsp masala I used. - stir and let it cook for 5 min
Make small area in middle - oil, left over ginger, garlic, chili - heat up and add in tomato paste - let it simmer for few min and stir everything together. Add some more vege stock - cover and let it cook for 15 min. - Keep stirring and adding stock as necessary every 5 min to keep from burning (I had heat just above medium).
By now 40 min has gone by - everything should be mushy - kind of like a brunswick stew (for those of you who've been to a southern Barbecue place). If you haven't see pic.
You're done!

Unmanaged Mess

We tried to eat at Ham's yesterday on Franklin St. Sadly didn't get to eat there - we ended up walking out after complete, utter lack of service. In my frustration I've posted a review of Ham's on Google.
Since we did not get served at Ham's we took out business to Mediterranean Deli - Excellent!! Again there is no service to speak of, but the food is delivered in reasonable time and oh so yummy.
I had Gyro on Hummus platter (next time will go with standard Gyro), I had wayyy too much hummus. Wife had Chicken Shwarma - she liked it better than NeoMonde Deli, I think the chicken at Medi Deli was over cooked - NeoMonde has perfectly cooked moist chicken.

Here's my review of Ham's posted on Google:
Summary: Horrible Service - or rather complete lack of service.
Went into Ham's on 9/4 Friday night. Took time to get seated - understandable. After being seated no one even asked about water or drinks. After us 3 tables were seated - and their orders were taken - no one bothered to ask us for even water.
After 20 minutes and trying to flag down a waitress we walked out. We should have known it was coming as we saw folks at the same table walk out, when we were waiting to be seated.
Seemed like Hams was a bit low on waitstaff - the few working were running around in random order without any management, any sequence or any logic.
Food is supposed to be decent - didn't get to try, if the front of the house is run this poorly - I am worried about what goes on in the back.