Gosht / Murghi na Parsi Curry Chawal (Mutton / Chicken Curry Rice Parsi-Style)

When I got married and moved to Grumpy's (you all know Grumpy by now - evil grin) house, I had already been cooking for 4 to 5 years. One Sunday, it was decided I cook Parsi Curry Chawal (rice). Even at the time, I made/make a mean Mangalorean Prawn Curry, but I was clueless about Parsi Curry. That’s when mum-in-law, Perin, came to my rescue. She taught me how to make this. I, in turn, have taught this to so many others and I now share this beautiful recipe with you.

The flavour of this curry is spicy and nutty. The tangy component added to this curry is a direct squeeze of lime onto the curry chawal when It’s on your plate. Enjoy! 😊

My stock of curry paste. The square box is the one i used to make this curry.

Ingredients: 

½ kilo mutton or chicken, cut into pieces

3 large potatoes, quartered

Half coconut, grated roughly or chopped into pieces

20 grams peanuts (singdana), roasted

20 grams sesame seeds, roasted

10 grams poppy seeds, roasted

20 grams cashew nuts, roasted

20 grams gram (chana/daalia), roasted

6 - 8 black peppercorns, roasted

½ inch cinnamon, roasted

1.5 heaped tablespoon coriander seeds, roasted

1 heaped tablespoon cumin seeds, roasted

1 clove, roasted

2 sprigs curry leaves

½ kilo tomatoes, pureed

20-22 whole dry Kashmiri chilies, soaked in hot water till soft, then drained

1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

7 tablespoons oil or as needed

My trusty old pan; I refuse to get rid of it. Works beautifully when i need to roast such items.

Method:

1. Grind the coconut, peanuts, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cashews, gram, red Kashmiri chilies, black peppercorns, cinnamon, and cloves to a thick paste.
   
   
   
   
2. Heat oil in a cooker. Splutter the curry leaves and add the turmeric powder and ginger-garlic paste and fry well. Add the ground paste and fry well till oil separates.
   
   
   
   
3. Add the pureed tomatoes and cook till the raw taste and smell of the tomatoes is no longer evident and oil separates.
   
   
   
   
4. Add the mutton/chicken pieces, potato pieces and sauté well for 2-4 minutes.
5. Season with salt.
   
   
   
   
6. Add adequate water and pressure cook. (I usually pressure cook for two whistles, lower heat and continue simmer for 10-15 minutes for mutton and simmer 5 to 7 minutes for chicken). Shut off stove, allow the pressure to release by itself and then open the cooker.
   
   
   
   
7. Serve with Onion Rice, kachumber and a squeeze of lime. I also know people who dip crusty Brun bread in this curry so feel free to have it in a way if you so desire.
   
   

Kachumber: An Indian Salad

A salad mix of chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped green chilies, and chopped coriander leaves. Season with salt, black pepper powder and a few splashes of vinegar. (I use natural cane vinegar by Kolah’s)

Old photograph. Taken some time in 2014

Chef Notes for Curry:

1. We Bawas love our potatoes just as much as we love eggs hence if you’re not much of a ‘potato person’ feel free to omit them from the recipe.
2. This recipe can also be made into an egg (boiled egg) curry or a fish/prawn curry, but of course, when making egg / fish / prawn curry, please omit the potatoes.
3. The ingredients ground in ‘Point No. 1’, can be ground a day prior and stored in the fridge. In fact, I always make a large batch of the curry-paste and store it in containers in the freezer. Makes work easy for a jhatpat (quick) curry when the craving hits. The ground curry-paste easily keeps for a month or two, in the freezer.
4. Feel free to reduce or increase the quantity of red Kashmiri chilies. This quantity will give you a medium spicy curry.
5. Please note, the ground masala works like a thickening agent because of the added peanuts, etc., so ensure you add adequate water to into the pressure cooker. You don’t want thick masala sticking, burning, and getting wasted at the bottom of the pressure cooker.
6. The crockery differs in a few photographs as I am posting a few old photographs too.
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism. 

Some more photographs: 

Rava Fry Fish

These days, I always want to cook something that doesn’t take up an entire day. I had made simple Mora Dar Chawal also known as Dhandar (read: Dal Chawal made the Parsi way) and as I’d ordered Surmai steaks, I decided to rava fry them. I can describe the combination of dal, rice, fried fish and pickle in two words: Soul Food!

Ingredients:

500 grams Surmai steaks, wash and pat dry with kitchen paper towels

4 heaped teaspoons Red Chili Powder + ½ teaspoon more

1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

Salt to taste + ½ teaspoon more

2 teaspoon Garlic Paste

½ teaspoon Pepper Powder

½ teaspoon Dhania-Jeera Powder

1 tablespoon Malt Vinegar or to taste

½ to ¾ cup regular rava (semolina)

Oil 

Method:

1. Mix all the dry spices, then add the malt vinegar. Add water to make a thick(ish) paste.
2. Apply the spice marinade to the fish steaks and keep for an hour or two in the fridge.



3. In a flat plate empty out the rava/semolina; add ½ teaspoon chilli powder and ½ teaspoon salt and mix well.
4. Coat each fish steak evenly in the semolina mix; dust off the excess semolina from the fish pieces.



5. Heat oil in a non-stick pan.



6. Fry the fish slices on one side, flip after a couple of minutes and fry the second side till done.
7. Drain on kitchen paper towels. Serve with onion rings and lemon wedges.



Chef’s Notes:

1. You can marinate the fish for up to 6 to 8 hours in the fridge – you can also marinate merely for 10-15 minutes if you are short on time. I marinated the steaks overnight.
2. The cooking/frying time will depend on the thickness of the fish steaks. Approximately 2 minutes on the first side and 1-1.5 minutes on the flipped side should suffice.
3. If the steaks are thinner than the ones seen in the photograph you may have to reduce cooking time by a few seconds. I prefer the texture of the fish to be flaky hence prefer not to overcook the fish. If you want a firmer texture continue cooking for at least a minute more.
4. You can also use lime juice, tamarind pulp or kokum pulp or regular white or brown vinegar instead of malt vinegar – any souring agent will work just fine.
5. Please feel free to increase or decrease the spices as suited to your palate.
6. You may, of course, use any fish available but do adjust the frying time depending on the fish used.
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Seafood Mould

Certain recipes have memories attached to them. This is one such recipe. As a child I used to stand in Jeroo masi’s kitchen and watch in awe as she churned out the most amazing dishes. Masi wasn’t a run-of-the-mill home cook. She had Rita, a gem of a lady, in the kitchen to make regular everyday fare for the family but come the time for a party or a get-together and Jeroo masi would take over the reins of the kitchen with gusto. She at times served this dish as a cold salad and at times as a hors d’oeuvre, gently nestled over warm canapés or vol-au-vents. Be it as a salad or a hors d’oeuvre, I could never get enough of it. When I began cooking and experimenting in the kitchen at the age of 13, I requested masi for this recipe and she happily parted with it.

The first time I made Seafood Mould, was the early 80’s. I was taking baby steps in the kitchen of a household where mum never cooked (she hates cooking – no judgements – didn’t make her any less of a wonderful mother and... she’s still the best! Touch wood! <3 ). Our kitchen drawers held no measuring spoons and gelatine was something I had only heard of when Granny made Bluebird Jelly. No surprise then that the first time I gave this dish a try I fell flat on my face. I used three times the amount of gelatine that I was actually supposed to use. *very sheepish look*

I learned my lesson since; the very next month I used all my pocket money (and some more – mummy zindabad) to invest in measuring spoons and some basic kitchenware. I was now on my way to mastering this recipe and many others thereby making lesser faux pas in the kitchen. ;)

I haven’t made this recipe in years and a few days ago decided to recreate it. How, then, could I not share it with all of you? I hope you all recreate this dish it in your kitchen with as much joy as I do when I make it in mine. Jeroo Masi, with all my love, always, this one’s for you! <3

Ingredients:

List A:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 (half) cup tomato sauce/ketchup
1/2 (half) cup Maggi Hot & Sweet Sauce

6 level teaspoons gelatine powder

1 cup water

Juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce

List B:

2 hard boiled eggs, finely diced

1 onion, finely diced

2-3 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 capsicum, finely diced

¼ kilo fish steaks - boil in lightly salted water, drain, remove skin/bones and flake the fish meat

12-13 medium sized prawns - boil in lightly salted water, drain and chop into tiny pieces

Method: 

1. Melt gelatine powder in 1 cup water over gentle heat. When melted, take the liquid off the fire and cool it, stirring all the time.
   
   
2. When cool mix mayonnaise, tomato sauce/ketchup, Maggi Hot & Sweet sauce, juice of 1 lime and Worchestershire sauce into the gelatine.
3. Mix well to ensure all ingredients come together nicely and evenly.
4. Add fish, prawns, hard-boiled eggs, onion, capsicum and celery.
5. Mix well and spoon the mixture into a bowl to set.
6. Put in the fridge and allow to set for 4-6 hours.
   
   

To Serve:

Serve as a cold salad, directly, from a large bowl in which the dish has been set. You may set the bowl, in which the salad is set, over a larger bowl of ice if it’s a buffet meal.

Or

Once set, serve as a hors d’oeuvre; a spoonful over warmed canapés (I used store bought ready canapés and merely warmed them in an oven for 2 minutes). Fill the canapés neatly or rustically, whatever rocks your boat. Alternately, you may also serve it in freshly baked vol-au-vent puffs.

Or

Serve as tiny moulds overturned on individual plates; each mould garnished with a tiny boiled prawn and a few specks of celery. Sounds gorgeous, doesn’t it? ;)

Store bought Canapés - Warmed for 2 minutes in a pre-heated oven

Chef Notes:  

1. Please do not use gelatine sheets and, please, do not ask me whether you can substitute sheets for powder because my answer will be a firm, ‘No!’; more so because I will not be able to guide you in regard to balancing the proportion of powder by sheets. 
2. The original recipe uses 1 cup tomato ketchup/sauce but i prefer that slight hint of chili hence have used half cup ketchup and half cup Maggi Hot & Sweet Sauce. 
3. Any regular white fish (e.g. King fish-Surmai or Indian White Salmon-Rawas) will work fine for this recipe. Please avoid using fish that have a strong fishy odour. 
4. I would strongly advise the use of measuring spoons to ensure this dish turns out as it should.
5. The mayonnaise used by me, for this recipe, is the one I make at home. I never use store bought, bottled mayo. The recipe of the mayonnaise used by me is on my blog under the name, ‘The Never-Fail Blender Mayonnaise’. 
6. No Instagram filters have been used on any of the photographs; I prefer you get to see the end product in its natural colour. Having said that, the dish appears a tad orange in certain photographs, instead of the peach colour that it actually was, because I have clicked those photographs during sunset, near the kitchen window. 
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   
   
   
   

Crisp Batter Fried Fish

Crisp Batter Fried Fish

The base recipe is courtesy a chef I admire greatly for the changes he has brought about in the culinary world. He is extremely well known for many signature dishes. He changed the culinary scene with his work when he used chemistry in the kitchen. I won’t call it ‘molecular gastronomy’ because it’s a well known fact that he dislikes the term. He feels it makes the cooking process sound extremely complicated and elitist. Yes, I’m talking of none other than Heston Blumenthal. From all that I have read and seen, he’s a culinary genius. Here I am, a simple, self-taught home cook, and let me add, a deranged Bawi. Why deranged, you ask? Well, I was planning to attempt Heston's recipe but with substitute ingredients and techniques as certain ingredients and kitchen equipments were unavailable to me. That’s a good enough reason to call myself deranged. I mean who in their right mind trifles with Heston’s recipe. But, the substitution worked beautifully. I’d recommend this recipe with substitutions, to anyone and everyone, in a jiffy. As always, don't take my word for it. Give it a try and check it out for yourself.

Ingredients:

1 kilo fish fillet (I used King fish/Surmai)

1 cup refined flour/maida

1 + ½ cup rice flour, separated

Salt to taste

Black Pepper powder, to taste

1 teaspoon baking powder

450 - 500 mils fizzy water/soda water

Oil to deep fry

Method:

1. Cut the large fish fillets into one inch thick fillets.
   
   

   

   The new baby of my kitchen..The Robert Welch Signature Chef's Knife from Lakeland Store - Phoenix Mall - Pune
   
   

2. Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper and leave to marinate for an hour. If you wish to marinate it longer, store the fillets in the fridge and bring them out of the fridge 30 minutes before frying them.
   
   
   
   
3. Sieve ½ a cup of rice flour. Season with salt and pepper. Keep aside.
4. Sieve 1 cup rice flour, refined flour and mix it in a bowl. Add baking powder. Season with salt and pepper to taste and give the dry ingredients a mix.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan.
6. Add soda water to the mixed dry ingredients in the bowl. Quickly mix the flour and soda (half a cup, at a time) with a whisk to make a batter thick enough to coat the fish fillets. You will need a total of anywhere between 450 to 500 mils of fizzy water/soda water.
   
   
   
   
7. Dredge the fish fillets in dry seasoned rice flour. Shake off the excess.
8. Dip the fish fillets in the batter and deep fry them in oil. Fry them on medium high heat till the batter covering the fish turns crisp and golden brown.
   
   
   
   
9. Remove the fillets from the oil on to kitchen towels and allow them to rest for a minute.
10. Serve with Triple Cooked Chips, Mushy-Minty Peas and Tartar sauce.
    
    

Triple Cooked Chips… Recipe here

Mushy- Minty Peas… Recipe here

Tartar Sauce… Recipe here

Chef Notes: 

1. I do not own a siphon to aerate the batter or a deep fryer hence went the simple home cook route and made adjustments with the cooking process.
2. This recipe can be made with lager/beer instead of fizzy water/soda water but I could not do that as Grumpy (read: husband) is a strict, boring teetot. :P You can also use vodka and beer, half and half. Hic! ;-)
3. The, time and again, tested frying time for a batter-coated fish fillet, one inch in thickness, is a minute and a half (max two minutes) on each side, with one minute resting time. If you cut the fillets thicker or thinner than one inch, please increase or reduce the frying time accordingly.
4. You will require anywhere from 450 to 500 mils fizzy water depending on the quality and brand of flours used. Once the batter is of coating consistency, stop adding the fizzy water.
5. I definitely recommend the use of a whisk instead using a fork or a spoon to mix the batter. The mixture comes together quickly and without any lumps when a whisk is used, hence the recommendation.
6. When you put the fish fillets into the hot oil, do so very slowly and gently so that the temperature of the oil doesn’t undergo a sudden change. Also, the batter will remain intact on the fillets when they are slowly lowered into the hot oil.
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   
   

Patra Ni Machhi – Fish Steamed In Banana Leaves

Patra Ni Machhi – Fish steamed in Banana Leaves

A Parsee navjote or wedding meal is incomplete without fish and we Bawas mainly opt for either Sas ni Machhi or Patra ni Machhi. I definitely prefer the latter! Most Bawas always debate over this but for me Patra ni Machhi wins hands down. The light flaky fish, the delicious green chutney and the fragrance and flavour imparted by the banana leaves in which it is steamed make this dish a sheer delight! What are you waiting for?? Head to the market pronto for those banana leaves and fish ;-)

Ingredients:

10 pieces fish fillets (you can use pomfret, black pomfret/halva, surmai/kingfish, rawas/white Indian salmon or any single bone fish that can be filleted)

1 teaspoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon salt

5 tender banana leaves, carefully wash and pat dry (Note: Feel free to keep two-three extra in case they tear)

Butter or oil, for greasing the leaves

For the Green Chutney:

1 coconut

2 bunches coriander leaves

2 bunches mint leaves

24 green chilies

14-15 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons jeera / cumin seeds

Approx 6 medium sized raw mangoes, (use to taste depending on the amount of acidity best suited to your taste buds - when not in season use lime juice)

Salt, to taste

Sugar, to taste

Method for Chutney:

Grind all the ingredients to a thick chutney. Refrain from adding too much water. The chutney has to be thick so that it doesn't run out of the banana leaves. When done, keep aside. (Feel free to make this a day or two in advance. It keeps in the fridge. I usually do that)

Method:

1. Mix the chili powder, turmeric powder and salt in a bowl. Add water to make a thick paste. Apply this to all the fish pieces. Leave aside for 15-30 minutes.
2. Remove the center stem of the banana leaves and cut each leaf into two.
3. Heat water in a steamer/double boiler. When it begins to boil leave it on simmer.
4. Grease the banana leaf with butter or oil.
5. Place some chutney in the center of the leaf.
   
   
   
   
6. Place one piece of the marinated fish on the chutney.
   
   
   
   
7. Cover the top of the fish with some more chutney.
   
   
   
   
8. Carefully wrap the fish in the banana leaf and tie a string to ensure the parcel does not open up. Repeat with the remaining banana leaves and pieces of fish.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Put the fish parcels in the top vessel of the steamer/double boiler. Increase the heat from simmer to high and steam for 15-20 minutes. (the time may vary slightly depending on the size and thickness of the fish pieces)
   

   

   Patra Ni Machhi ready to be steamed

   
   

   

   Patra Ni Machhi getting steamed

   

   Patra Ni Machhi, steamed n ready to be devoured ;-)

10. When done, carefully open the banana leaves and serve hot with soft rotis.
    
    

    

    Steaming hot Patra Ni Machhi

    
    

    

    The fish should be as flaky as shown in the pic

 Chef’s Note:

1. I marinated the fish in that minuscule bit of chili powder and turmeric (as does the caterer Darius Dorabjee of the famous Dorabjee restaurant in Pune) because it enhances the flavour of the fish. Please note, it’s only 1 teaspoon chili powder n ¼ teaspoon turmeric which isn't really much for 10 pieces of fish but having tried to make it without the spices I felt the fish kinda fell flat taste-wise regardless of how delicious the chutney was. This lifted the dish to a completely different level and I now know why Darius Dorabjee makes it the way he does.
2. The chutney is the hero of the dish so keep tasting it as you make it to adjust the sugar and acidity (raw mangoes/lime juice) until you achieve perfect flavour. Also, do not be stingy with the chutney when you coat the fish in it. In case you have some leftover chutney, make chutney sandwiches and think of me ;-)
3. If you don’t have banana leaves available to you, your next best option will be butter paper.
4. Lastly, please do not overcook the fish. Ideally it should be flaky as soon as you put a fork through it. 
5. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism. 

 Bon Appetit!!