So, how do I know I am cooking Indian food?

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

When my son, Aniruddh, asked me casually,

“Dad, having read all your 54 blogs over the past year, I have a question. If I don’t have a recipe book on Indian food and I don’t have an Indian friend to call for help, and I can’t go through all your blogs to get a recipe, and I don’t want to cook what you have done in your blogs, how do I know what I am cooking is Indian and not any other cuisine?”

Honestly, I didn’t have an answer for him immediately, and I told him so, but I assured him I’d think about it for his questions raised other interesting issues, as these things tend to do.

And here are my thoughts.

My first response is that if my son has these sorts of questions there must be others out there who may also have similar thoughts, but don’t want to ask.

So, I continued thinking.

How can I make the seemingly straightforward question ‘how do I know I’m cooking Indian food?’ accessible for people out there?

Well, what I thought might be good would be to introduce people about the basics of Indian food. And when I say basics, I mean the real nitty-gritty stuff. Then I thought that the more adventurous and keen cooks could go on and refer to my cookbooks or my blogs if they felt inclined to try out some of the dishes. Obviously many of you know your onions (!) but tell me if you knew all the following (or took them so much for granted you didn’t even notice them!?) or if you have any of your own ideas that, for you, means you know you’re cooking Indian food.

So, my take on it is this. You know you are cooking Indian when you:

1. Heat the oil until it is hot and about to start smoking before crackling whole spices.

crackling spices

It’s not so much the using of whole spices that makes this process quintessentially Indian, though of course it helps, but it’s the heating of the poly-unsaturated oil that is intrinsic. Cooking the spices this way creates a spice flavoured infusion which will then permeate through the protein (whatever meat it is you are using and even paneer) to give that extra ‘oomph’. It also helps break the protein down in the body for easy digestion. The smoked oil also gets a chance to rise to the top. You can then either leave it to preserve the dish or skim the oil off before serving. We call this first step baghar!

2. Add sliced, or chopped, onions followed by iodised cooking salt. (The salt prevents the onions from sticking to the pan and ultimately stops them from burning; the iodine in the salt is ‘brain food’.)

3. Cook the onions until the sugar is released which is also known as caramelisation. You cook your onions until they are light golden for white meat and cook them until golden for red meat. (Cooking the onions for longer ensures a brighter coloured sauce and it also helps preserve the quality of the dish. We call this bhunao.)

caramelised onions

4. You add the ground ginger, or ground garlic, one at a time and wait until each has caramelised before adding the next – this helps in building the flavour of the dish. Remember, cooking Indian food is like creating a building – it’s layer upon layer. This layering of flavours gives the dish its own identity.

adding ginger

5. You sear the red meat before you add the (uncooked) ground spices. (This keeps the meat moist and adds to the bright colour of the dish.) We also call this also bhunao. You skip this step if you’re cooking white meat.

6. As with our garlic and ginger, when you add the dry ground spices  you do so one at a time.  My rule of thumb is you add first the dry ground chilli (as a general rule I add the chilli first as it takes a little longer to cook and it also brings out the bright red colour in the oil which we call rogan); this is followed by turmeric and then the ground coriander, or cumin. At every stage you cook the first spice and wait till the oil comes to the surface before adding the next spice. Turmeric is added to help bring out the colours and it also acts as an anti-oxidant.

7. Well, in my Indian cooking I now add an acidic substance to the dish. It could be tomatoes, or yoghurt, or a combination of both. You may also add tamarind water here along with the tomatoes, or yoghurt.

adding tomatoes for acidity

8. If you’re cooking with white meat you add it now and fold rather than stir. Your slow cooking starts now.

9. You now cover your pot and place it in a fan forced oven, or a hot plate, with a temperature of around 140-160 C – for about 30 minutes for white meat and 1 hour and 10 minutes for red meat.

10. You serve the dish sprinkled with lemon juice.

“That was the easy bit, son.” I say to Aniruddh when he comes to check on my progress.

My previous points are an established way to cook Indian food but let’s dig further.

Let’s now tackle the ‘not so easy’ part.

“Which is?” my son asks.

“Well,” I reply smiling, “which is, you know you are really cooking Indian when. . .”

1. You use your fingers as measures, and not spoons or measuring scales for a balanced meal. (Each finger represents one of the Five Senses. G-d gave us five fingers, and yes, the thumb is also a finger. Each finger represents a sense and each sense represents an element. The sense of smell is the element of earth (bhoomi), the sense of touch is the element of air (vayu), the sense of taste is the element of water (jal), the sense of sound is the element of ether (akash) and finally, the most important sense is the element of vision (agni).

Using all the senses gives a sense of satisfaction and that in turn gives a ‘balance’ to the meal. And as I pick up my ground ginger with my fingers I sniff it and say to Aniruddh, “If you can’t touch the food you cook how can you even think of eating it, son!!”

2. Well, let’s keep talking about the senses and elements as this is so integral to Indian cooking, our way of life, our philosophy. It’s all so intricately tied together. None of it is separated into neat little compartments. It all flows and meanders into one another. Anyway, remember that Indian food revolves around three fundamentals which are first, that every dish must have salt (we cook our food with salt and notice that you will never see a salt shaker on a dining room  table in an Indian restaurant or home). Cooking food with salt helps it pass through the fibres of the protein, or whatever vegetable it is you are cooking with, which in turn helps in preserving the dish, like a pickle. So, no salt, no pickle!! We call this uppu, or namak, or salt.

3. My second fundamental is that every Indian dish must have chilli. I know the chilli is not native to India but before the white man brought it to this land we only used pepper. We call it mirch. Now it is also known as kali mirch, lal mirch, sufaed mirch or hari mirch which represents a mix of the pepper and the chilli together. You may use either pepper, or chilli, or a combination of both, which is what we do in nilgiri’s. we call this kaaram or mirchi or chilli

chillis

4. My third fundamental point is please, don’t forget to add the souring agent which I mentioned above. We call the souring agent puli or khatas.

a souring agent ~ yoghurt

5. We add spices to complement a dish and not to dominate it. Yes!! And so many of you think you need to ‘sweat’ or ‘endure’ a hot meal or drink a jug of water to help you eat our food. No!! It’s not the case.

6. Ah ha. One of my favourites. You are talking to yourself as you cook, just like when you play that wonderful Indian game called shatranj [chess]. Indian food is about making a move with a definite purpose, just like it is in chess. Don’t add [move] if there is no purpose!!

7. You don’t call it a ‘mild’ or a ‘medium’ or a ‘hot’ dish as there are no ‘heat’ measuring scales when cooking! Just take it as it comes. It will not kill you, if anything, it might just help you live longer by increasing your metabolism and also help break down the carbs!!

8. And last, but by no means least, son, you are cooking Indian when you don’t cook with ‘curry’ powder. This just doesn’t exist!! It comes from. . . Well, I’ll leave you to find out where curry powder came from and who invented it whilst inhabiting our land!!

Anah daata sukhi bhaava!!

A ‘great’ Mother’s day would have been a ‘cracking Mother’s day’ if the 24 ‘no shows’ had also turned up!!

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

Firstly, a belated happy mother’s day to all the mums of this world!!

Last Sunday at nilgiri’s we had a great time.

The place was buzzing with action even on Saturday evening. We had a full house booked for Mother’s day lunch and dinner on Sunday. This has not happened here since 2009.

On Saturday night, my stalwart, Deepak, wouldn’t let me take any more bookings.

Deepak

“Not a single table is free chef.” Deepak told me “So please do not take any more bookings.” These were his clear instructions to everyone, but especially me! He meant it. We were full.

I am very lucky. I have a great team, both in front and at back of house. They even tell me what to do and certainly what not to do!

The chefs in nilgiri’s kitchen are masters in their own field. They just go about doing their job.

chef Amitava

Well no, it is not a job for them. They live to cook, it is their passion!! How bl..y lucky am I?

From passion comes energy and with that energy my kitchens buzz.

So, Sunday begins perfectly as there are no cancellations, no last-minute hiccups and no staff calling in sick. Even the kitchen hands are here on time and pumped up, raring to go.

This is going to be a ‘cracker’ of a day. I can feel it in my bones!!

We have a private party upstairs, in our main dining room, and they have asked for a Bengali menu. Hey, that’s no problem. This is what we specialise in at nilgiri’s, ethnic Indian food from every region!!

The four private rooms: jal, agni, bhoomi and vavu are also booked and they are having the “Mother’s day special menu”. The food is to be served in each of the rooms which means each room requires its own waiter. But no, this isn’t a problem at all. It’s a situation I like!!

Akash, downstairs, is booked out as well and we have a buffet here too.

I’m happy because I know that all the chefs are in complete control of their work. There is no panic and no one is running around like a headless ch..k! Everything is under control and working smoothly and busily.

It’s 11.50 am, Sunday and Akhil and all the wait staff are in their designated areas and ready to go. The chefs are all in position! They have organised their work stations, prepared everything and waiting for the orders. This is just another game of cricket for them!!

Akhil

Time ticks on and it’s now 12.00 pm, sharp.

In walk the first diners to take their table and then the second, and so it goes on. . .

The weather outside is bright, crisp and sunny and inside it’s warm, glowing and full with the sound of chatter. Mums or grandmothers are being given presents. I like this feeling!

Soon the guests for the upstairs private function room are also trickling in.

I can hear Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh singing the slow and melodious Hosh Walo Ko Khabar Kya. . . on the music system.

Oh, this song! I am having a great time as this day, and this song, make me feel youthful!

I go around the restaurant to make sure all systems are working well when Kabir, at the reception, informs me that the private room upstairs, booked for 12 people, has not turned up. They were supposed to be here by 12.30 pm. It is now nearing 1 pm.

I ask Kabir to call them up to check how far away are they from the restaurant. Kabir tells me he has already done that and there is no response.

“That’s alright.” I say to him hoping against all hopes that they turn up. And it’s back to business. Time moves on and still the private room guests do not come.

I run a small business with a good reputation. Why does nilgiri’s have a good reputation? Because my great team and I rely on my customers to pay so that I can pay my team. And, so the circle continues and nilgiri’s good reputation is maintained.

Unfortunately, some people just don’t seem to understand this.

Sadly, it is becoming a regular feature in Sydney to have around 10 to 15 seats of confirmed bookings not turn up on a given day and I respect my customers too much to not ‘overbook’ the restaurant.

Can you imagine? You ring to book a table at a restaurant for a big group, or for four, and then you don’t bother going. You don’t even have the courtesy to inform the restaurant.

But these no-shows are more than just loss of revenue for the business (they could well have been our profit for the day) but it is also about the loss of confidence for my staff.

It’s disheartening for my staff to be let-down by the the ‘no-shows’. They take their job seriously and would like to be treated with respect. If I can’t make a date with someone, for whatever reason, I let them know. Easy!

Just like a few of our regulars who could not make it this year. They made bookings and then called up to say that they were unable to come, for whatever reason. The key is that they called before we had to call them.

These people give me hope. They (and you know who you are!) are the people who have an appreciation/respect of what we do and who will always call up a few days before the event or as soon as they know they can’t make it.

For me, every staff member in my restaurant is like my partner  (yes, even if it’s a junior partner) and is assigned an area of the business to look after as if it were his own.

This means that they run that area of the business, such as looking after the needs of the guest and making sure that they are happy and will return.

My staff are also given a figure to work around (called average spend) which is important and helps the business pay its bills.

This style of operation has worked for us and the staff as it helps them become entrepreneurs rather than just workers. If they are proud of their work and can see benefits in working professionally, well, as we all know, the rest follows. It’s not rocket science!

Of course, there are incentives for all but most work to achieve their target and not the incentive. This is their time to learn, there is plenty of time to earn after being with me!

So. let’s get on with the day.

chef Narender

Every guest is happy with the food and the service (it really helps when you get these two things right!).

But no time to rest. Let’s get ready for dinner.

Ah well, dear reader dinner is another game. But I’m sure you can guess. Yes, the storyline is very similar.

Another table of 6 people and two tables of 4 do not turn up. No show!

I have no doubt that these 24 people who did not turn up must have a genuine reason for not having come. We’re all busy, unforeseen events arise. But for twenty-four people?

However, in the back of my mind I have doubts in believing this because all they had to do was call us, and none of them did! How amazing is that?

We could have given the table away to someone who was keen to dine in my restaurant.

In my business the most perishable commodity is, no, not the food or the beverages  in the restaurant. I know, you were thinking paneer or fresh vegetables, right?!

But it’s the seats. If there are no bu–s on seats there is no bl..dy restaurant, this is not a hard concept to understand and as my friend, John, says it is as ‘clear as mud!!

So friends and lovers of good food, my restaurant, nilgiri’s is a part of a journey that started in India a long time ago and is still going.

Every day is a page added to this unfinished book. What’s the next chapter going to be? Where is it going to be set? Well, I can’t tell you that yet, but as I turn another leaf over, I hope you’ll be there with me.

I hear Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh singing in the background Safar mein dhoop to hogi……..!!

Anah daata sukhi bhaava!!

Two books that inspired me then . . . and still do to this day!!!

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

books for cooks

For a chef anywhere in the world, two books that would fall under the umbrella term of inspiration would be Larousse Gastronomique and Herring’s Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery. These two books are the ‘supreme’ commandments when it comes to French Cooking.

But for me, as an Indian cook looking for inspiration, the two books I would choose would have to be Spices and Condiments [1] and the second Indian Food – A Historical Companion [2]. These two books are my supreme authorities.

One book covers the use of spices and herbs and the other gives a historical background on the evolution of Indian food over the centuries.

These are not cookbooks, there are no recipes and no, they are not written by chefs. The authors are scientists who have dedicated their entire life in trying to make the cook in me (and in all of us) gain an understanding of the role of spices and herbs in Indian food, the how and why and when of spices. The other book (Indian Food – A Historical Companion) makes me realise that Indian food is more about the process, the step-by-step method, of cooking rather than the quantities. How I wish I had read them when I was in catering school I would have. . .well, you know, the sky’s the limit!

So who are these authors?

The first book I mentioned, Spices and Condiments was written by Dr J.S. Pruthi and first published in 1976. And here is the man himself!

Dr J.S. Pruthi

I am very fortunate to have met this gentleman, more out of force of circumstance than from a burning desire to meet him.

It was in 1989 and I was asked to work on recipes from the Malabar coast when we were setting up the Karavalli Restaurant at the Gateway Hotel in Bangalore. My instructions were to get as much information about the ingredients as possible as the recipes had to be authentic!

So I had to find out what, for example, badige chilli was and where it grows. I had to find out why we use pepper from Kerala and what garbled black pepper is, and so on.

A true dish belongs to the people and the people belong to a place. Yes, we know all this, but what’s important about it is that for a recipe to be authentic the produce used in a particular recipe has to be from that local region and nowhere else!

So, I meet Dr J.S. Pruthi in Mysore on my way to Ooty and I start my question thus, “Dr Pruthi, pleased to meet you. Sir, I am here to learn about the use of chilli in the coastal food of Western India. . .” and I ask my question about what chillies should be used.

No sooner has the question been asked, Dr Pruthi tells me, without stalling, that in Coondapur cooking one must use only badige chillies as they impart a unique colour besides their unique taste. And he continues in this vein about coconuts and about black pepper and how it is graded based on its size and he mentions garbling and he carries on and on with supreme knowledge about all these spices!!

All of this wealth of information and knowledge, and so much more besides, comes pouring forth from a man who is not even a cook!!

This man turbocharged my understanding of Indian cuisine. He showed me that Indian food is about spices and that the sooner I gain real knowledge about such spices the better it will be for me (and those of you who eat my food!).

When I met Dr Pruthi I had been cooking for nearly 10 years and all I had learnt was ‘when’ to add the spices but never ‘how’ and certainly never ‘why’!!

This gentleman got me started on my quest for learning about spices and I am here, to this day, still learning!! Thanks Dr Pruthi.

So let’s return to his book. And here it is, in case you’re lucky enough to stumble across a copy as it’s now, unfortunately, out of print. Let me know if you find one!

The other ‘Bible’ by Dr J.S. Pruthi

Basically, his book describes nearly 90 different spices in detail, from, for example, the Botanical Name: Coriandrum sativum Linn., followed by the Family Name: Umbelliferae, followed by the local Indian names in our different languages such as Bengali: Dhane, Gujarati: Kothmiri, Punjabi: Dhania, and so on. He then describes this spice (called coriander if you haven’t already guessed!), and informs us where it is produced (which tells me why it is used more in one particular region rather than another), followed by its uses in food and in medicine (especially Ayurvedic medicine). Did you also know that coriander is native to, well, yes, of course India but Hungary, Poland, Guatemala and etc.?! This book abounds in interesting facts.

The second book Indian Food, is authored by Dr K.T. Achaya. He is also a scientist and I had the privilege of meeting him in Hyderabad in 1990. And here he is, too!

Dr K.T. Achaya

After my marriage in Bangalore we headed off to Hyderabad. Mum and Dad lived there and it is customary for newly weds to visit the bridegroom’s parents soon after the wedding. We spent five days in Hyderabad jam-packed with activities, another reception followed by visits to close family and friends.

Anyway, in one of the visits to Meera’s maternal grand-uncle’s house in Hyderabad I was introduced to a gentleman who was due to release a book on Indian food and its history over the past 1000 years. That’s no mean feat!

The oldest book I knew of back then on the history of Indian food was written by Abul Fazal (the book is called A’in-I Akbari) who was one of the nine ministers (9 jewels) in the emperor Akbar’s court. He was a historian and had documented recipes for the royal highness!! A royal dish had been created in their honour called navrattan khorma. Now, how do I know all this?

It was Dr Achaya who passed it on. Dr Achaya was a deep mine of information about the history of Indian food, its origins from the early days in Harappa to the arrival of the foreigners (the Arabs, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the Moguls and the British).

Dr Achaya’s book was still a few years away from being published but he was kind enough to tell me something about the dosai (tosai) which, according to Dr Achaya, was made with only rice and makes its appearance as early as the 6th Century A.D. He also spoke about the word ‘curry’, saying that it was a corruption of the Tamil word kari, meaning a pepper flavoured sauce!!

Again, I am pretty shocked that all this information is given by a man who has nothing to do with cooking food! He is not a chef, he is not even a cook but it is his love for this cuisine that made him get involved with a project on the history of science in India. The book deals with the history and culture of food practices of our Indian sub-continent.

One of the ‘Bibles’ – Indian food by K.T. Achaya

He describes so beautifully the process of making a kheer (rice pudding). He starts off by talking about kaccha and pucca foods. Literally, kaccha foods mean food that has been imperfectly cooked and pucca (pukka) means the opposite (for those Jamie Oliver fans out there you’ll notice that he uses this word to express something that he’s cooked that has come out well or tastes great!), but according to Dr Achaya the ritual usage goes beyond this. Both are, of course, fully cooked in the modern sense of cooking. Please join me in reading an excerpt from his book and relish the slow style, the detail and knowledge:

Kaccha foods are basically foods cooked in water, like rice, khichdī and dhãl. These items of food are considered both exclusive and pure, and the rules governing their preparation are designed to ensure this. Boiling with water tends to render any anna or its flour pure, and when this is done within the restricted cooking area and in a ritual cooking pot, the sthãli, a kaccha product results. Once the cooking of a kaccha food starts, usually by setting the rice or dhal to boil, the cook cannot leave the food area till the meal has been prepared, served and eaten following ritual rules. Should he do so, he will have lost his own purity, and another bath, fresh clothes and fresh cooking will be called for. A kaccha food item can be cheap or expensive, plain or festive, of average or superior nutritive quality. Even a marriage feast could consist entirely of kaccha foods like sweet rice, pallão, chana dhãl, urad dhãl and dahi-vadã. Wheat breads like roti and chapati were not in vogue in Vedic times, and therefore escaped ritual classifications; since they do not involve boiling, such items would not therefore strictly qualify as kaccha foods, even though eaten now at every meal. Kaccha food had to be cooked afresh for every meal; left-over or stale food, termed basi or jutha, was likely to have become polluted.

Pucca foods are essentially those cooked with fat, meaning of course ghee. They are destined, primarily, for use outside the domestic food area. A pucca food is one in which the first contact is with ghee. Thus in preparing halwa, the ghee must first be added to the pan and only then should the anna or the phala follow. Sometimes use of the same ingredients in a different sequence will determine the ritual classification. Thus to make kshīrikã (kheer), a pucca food, the rice must first come into contact with ghee, before milk, fire and sugar enter the picture. If this sequence is not followed, and the rice is added say to boiling milk, with ghee and sugar added later, the dish will be called doodhbãth, and is a restrictive kaccha food. Common daily dishes are most affected by such sequences. Pucca foods suffer less restrictions, are less liable to pollution, and can be shared outside the family by those of either lower or higher levels of purity.

Wow! Doesn’t that just blow your mind away? Savour that knowledge!

Dr K.T. Achaya’s book was first published in 1994.

So, just as Larousse and Herrings will always remain the ‘Bibles’ of French Food, I have no doubt that the book on spices and condiments and the history of Indian food will some day gain their rightful place and become the Bhagavad Gita of Indian food and be an essential part of the curriculum in catering schools all over India!!

I promise you I will be around to see that happen. Until then . . . Shubh Chintan, but of course: Anah Daata Sukhi Bhaava!!

REFERENCES:

The two books mentioned here are [1]: J.S. Pruthi, Spices and Condiments from the series India – The Land and the People, National Book Trust, India, 1976.

[2] K.T. Achaya, Indian Food – A Historical Companion, Oxford University Press, 1994 (Oxford India Paperbacks, 1998).

The Story of Our Food

Other fascinating books by K.T. Achaya you might want to look at are: The Story of Our Food, Universities Press (India) Limited, 2000 which is here:

and a fascinating, useful resource is his: A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, Oxford University Press, 1998.

One dish, one name, many versions, all authentic . . . welcome to Indian food!!

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

a simple soup, or a starter, for Mother's Day buffet at nilgiri's !!

Its time for Mother’s Day and, as always, there is a lot happening at nilgiri’s.

It’s hectic!

Srinivas, my Hyderabadi and kebab chef is returning to India, after two years with us, to be with his family. He will spend Mother’s Day in Hyderabad. He has been planning this for some (well, quite a long) time now, to be with his daughter, and son and his beloved wife . . . I am sure he will have a great time! Enjoy your holiday mate!! See you in July!!

Srinivas' family: daughter Anisha, wife Aish and son Asif

But for now, as well as farewelling a friend and colleague, my mind is focusing on getting organised for Mother’s Day!

What do we need for this special day?

Well, we need a menu and we need a theme and we need it ‘now’.

Every single year, since we moved into the present premises, we have had a special theme whether it’s celebrating something like Mother’s Day or just celebrating our food!

For example, one year we focused on the ‘coastal food of India’, then another year we did a buffet and called it ‘roadside stalls of India’.

A few years ago we did food from the ‘North West Frontier Province’, then there was ‘Calcutta Chowringhee Chat’, and. . . Well, this is a new year and we need new ideas so I call a meeting with all the staff, from both the front and back of house, to discuss possible themes, the menu, the pricing, the marketing, and much more besides!

Marketing is Meera’s domain, and with around 7,000 people on the nilgiri’s mailing list her job is quite a ‘cakewalk’, or so we all think! There’s always more to it than meets the eye and at the end of the day we need bu*s on seats and Meera generally delivers!!

So, the menu is the next big challenge but before we start composing that there is the ‘theme’ that we need to come up with and with Mother’s Day around the corner that seems to guide us.

So, we all agree on” maa ki rasoi “ as in ‘mum’s kitchen but with a difference’!

So, with a twist on the usual meaning of that phrase, the staff are going to cook their favourite dish for their mum and not the other way around! It is Mother’s day after all and mum is not cooking, not today!!

We agree that each staff member will come up with a starter and a main dish to feature on the menu. That’s easy! What is challenging is to select a dish and reject another as each staff member has such a vast array of dishes they want to use.

So, my job is to set the emotional part aside and decide from the long list of dishes that have been chosen for gastronomic, fond memories and many other personal reasons, what will work on the day.

I try to keep things very simple, as always. If it sounds good and looks good, well, it’s on the list!! After all, we are all professionals and we know what mum will like even if we have to discard a dish that our mum used to make us which carries us back to when we were kids!

So, after much deliberation we proudly present our 2012 Mother’s Day Sunday Buffet menu!

I am planning on making a soup for maa ki rasoi. With winter creeping around the corner, particularly mornings and evenings, I am planning on  my soup as a ‘warm’ starter.

The soup could be shorba from the north or a rasam from the south, but I decide on a kadhi that hails from either Maharashtra, Gujarat or Punjab.  It is one of my favourite starters and can be served with or without the dumplings. (Interestingly, the west coast version of this soup is generally served cold and has no yoghurt added, it is called sol kadhi and uses coconut, another one for our vegan friends!)

Anyway, with this soup in mind I ask the staff to come up with a recipe for our own kadhi. I’ve got to focus on other things and letting them get the recipe makes my job ‘easy’, after all I am the chef!

I am absolutely dumbstruck when all the staff come back to me with a recipe for a ‘hot’ kadhi that their mother makes and they all swear that this is the best and most authentic!

So, one by one they come to me with their own personalised version.

Kiran Hariyani, who is part Sindhi, part Punjabi, part Maharashtrian, comes up with a sindhi kadhi that uses tamarind along with yoghurt and she claims, most adamantly, that this is the most authentic version!

She also claims to have a recipe for a Maharashtrian kadhi. I am aware of this version as it is one that uses very little chickpea flour and no turmeric. If you do not trust me, ask my mum!!

Then comes Akhil, who is from Chandigarh, and his recipe includes chopped onions both in the kadhi and in the dumplings.

Durga Prasad – who is a new addition to the team and is probably the only ‘international’ chef in my kitchen, having worked in hotels from Mumbai to Hong Kong to London to Zurich to New York and Sydney – has a kadhi recipe from Benaras (Varanasi in UP) which uses extremely sour yoghurt and has a bay leaf added to it. His recipe also includes dumplings. Most unique!!

Then there’s Nishant Shah, he’s the Gujju Bhai in my team, and he swears that only Gujaratis can make a good kadhi. “Yes Nishant,” I say, “but you add a bit of sugar to yours.” “But chef! That is what makes it a kadhi.” he replies most passionately! He also knows a thing or two about a Rajasthani kadhi which includes cassia, cloves, fennel seeds and kari leaves in the tempering!! Rajasthani kadhi also  includes dumplings.

Parsees also make a kadhi called dahi ni cudhi and this version is one of my favorites.

If you ever get Babu from the Taj Bombay to make it for you you will forget Babu but not his cudhi, it’s just brilliant (remember Babu from the Parsee blog? No? Okay, then click Parsee Food – a beautiful yatra).

Then there is the Bihari version which has no turmeric added but incorporates garam masala in the tempering!! How amazing is that?!!

So, as you can see, a simple (“simple”) starter of a soup, a so-called straightforward kadhi, can be so diverse and intricate with hundreds of localised versions. This sort of thing can only happen with Indian food. This soup (and no, it’s not a cur*y my dear friends) is a staple dish to most Indians in the north just like the rasam is to the people of the south!
Southern Indians have rasam towards the end of the meal with rice whilst the northerners have kadhi for the same reason!!

Finally, after hearing all these wonderful versions of the same dish I decide it’s time I put my head-chef’s hat on. So, I create a kadhi recipe of my own for Mother’s Day, and tell the staff, “It is my way or the. . .”!

This recipe is in four parts: the soup, the dumplings, the tempering and then combining them all together. However, if you want to see a one-page version of the recipe, please click nilgiri’s kadhi pakodi.

Ingredients for the soup

left to right: yoghurt, buttermilk, thinned down yoghurt, turmeric, salt

Ingredients for the tempering

right to left starting from the 9 o'clock position: oil, black mustard seeds, brown cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, dry red chillies, asafoetida (ground), chilli powder, fresh kari leaves, fresh coriander leaves

Ingredients for the dumplings

left to right: spinach leaves (washed), ginger powder, brown cumin seeds, salt, green chillies, oil, chickpea flour

Utensils required

paper towel steel bowl, slotted spoon or a spider spoon

Part 1 – the soup

Step 1

add yoghurt to a large saucepan and set aside yoghurt container

Step 2

in order to not waste any remaining yoghurt, pour water into yoghurt container, swirl around, and then add to saucepan

Step 3

add buttermilk

Step 4

add thinned down yoghurt – this helps in getting the right consistency, not too thin, not too thick so it's just right!

Step 5

add water and fold if too thick, mixture should be like a thin soup to begin with (before you start cooking)

Step 6

add chickpea flour to water and whisk

Step 7

add turmeric to the chickpea flour mixture and whisk

Step 8

add mixture to saucepan and fold

Step 9

add salt and fold

Step 10

now cook over medium heat and fold regularly till the soup starts to thicken slightly. Do not let boil but slow cook

Part 2 – the dumplings

Step 1

add 2 cups of chickpea flour to a large mixing bowl

Step 2 – preparing the green chillies

lay out the green chillies on a chopping board

remove the stalks by hand

roughly chop green chillies

add chillies to mixing bowl

Step 3

add brown cumin seeds

Step 4

add salt

Step 5

add ginger powder

Step 6

heat plenty of oil in a pan to fry the dumplings – when oil is hot add 2 tablespoons to the dumpling mixture

Step 7

add hot oil to dumpling mixture, this makes the batter light and there is no need to add any baking soda!!

Step 8

add water

Step 9

fold dumpling mixture

Step 10

add torn spinach leaves to dumpling mixture and then add 1 tablespoon of hot oil to temper the leaves

Step 11

fold dumpling mixture

Step 12

don't forget to stir the soup occasionally !

Step 13 – Frying the dumplings

Heat the oil and add the dumplings either by hand or by using a spoon and fork as shown below.

How to add dumplings by hand

adding dumpling mixture by hand

How to add dumplings using a spoon and fork

dunk spoon in water - this will prevent the mixture from sticking

scoop mixture onto spoon

place spoon about 1 inch above oil and scrape off mixture using a fork or spoon

slide mixture into oil - don't let it splash!

Fry dumplings until golden brown

frying dumplings

turn dumplings to ensure they cook evenly

Remove dumplings when golden brown

remove dumplings when golden brown and place on paper towelling

Perfect golden dumplings!

your dumplings will (I hope) look like this!

Part 3 – the tempering

Step 1

add oil to pan and heat until oil starts smoking

Step 2

add black mustard seeds and let crackle

Step 3

add cumin seeds and let crackle

Step 4

add just a few fenugreek seeds and let them pop

Step 5

remove from heat and add coriander seeds

Step 6

and add whole dried chillies

Step 7

then add asafoetida powder

Step 8

and chilli powder

Part 4 – Bringing it all together

Step 1

place kari leaves on top of the hot soup

Step 2

add tempered spices to soup

add soup to pan used for tempering spices, fold, and then pour into soup saucepan - this will minimise waste

Step 3

fold mixture until it thickens, do not let it boil!

Step 4

when soup froths like this, remove from heat. I repeat: do not let it boil!

Step 5

two minutes after turning off the stove, your soup will (again, I hope) look like this

Step 6- Serving suggestions

You can either serve the soup and add dumplings to the plate or you can add dumplings to the soup in the saucepan to infuse them with flavour.

Step 6 A – If adding dumplings to plate

ladle soup into bowl

add dumplings and serve

Step 6B- If adding dumplings to saucepan

add dumplings to saucepan

soak dumplings for 5 minutes

your soup is now ready to serve

kadhi, my favourite soup!!

Well before you disappear into your own ‘rasoi’ , send me a recipe of your favorite ‘kadhi’ and we will publish it in my blogs . How’s that!!

Anah Daata Sukhi Bhaava!!!

Love the food, but can you please serve me with a…..!

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

I am in Bangalore on my last leg of this journey which is never complete without a trip with my son to the ‘hotel’ where I started my professional career as a chef.

We have been here every single time iI have visited Bangalore since 2000.

It just feels like coming back home, till this time. . .

I take Aniruddh on a Friday afternoon for what is going to be a memorable lunch, just me and him, father and son!

We are excited about this, no mum and no one to tell us what to do. It is our independence day!!

We take a ‘green’ autorickshaw, this is an addition to the new ‘pollution free’ India. We are excited.

We reach the hotel after a brief stopover at the Ulsoor lake, the ‘shanti apartments’ where I spent many a night sleeping on bunk beds whilst working as a commis chef all those years ago. We are so excited!

We finally reach the hotel. We are hungry and eager. Just as we enter the hotel we are stopped and asked to enter through the metal detector.

Beep!

My son is stopped.

He is carrying a Swiss army knife that he was given just the day before. He slept with it the night before, had breakfast with it in his pocket the next morning. This knife was, after all, a gift from his favourite grand-uncle!

We are asked to leave the penknife behind or return to the hotel without the knife. This isn’t much of a choice but we decide on the first option. Inspite of this we are still excited.

We go past the restaurant where I once worked as a chef with Deepak and Chari (remember we started this restaurant in 1985 together?!!) and reach the coffee shop.

all those years ago

This is where we are going to have lunch. We are brimming over with excitement!

We are received at the entrance by a  group of ‘uniformed staff’, who all attend to us at the same time. Great!!

But hang on, no one is smiling. This is not how it used to be. We are not sure if we are really welcome here.

Before this place, everywhere we went in India we were welcomed with a big smile and a namaste. But not here. Things have changed radically since I last came here in 2009!

We are asked to take a look at the buffet, but I am interested in having appam and vegetable stew. I don’t want the buffet. However, the manager is still showing us the buffet which is manned by a single ‘chef’, possibly a trainee. There’re no problems with that. I ask her what the kebab she is cooking is and abruptly she replies hariyali kebab. Where’s her smile?

Inspite of my initial reluctance, we decide to have the buffet as the food looks great and there’s a huge variety.

There is a salad counter with plenty of salads featuring “home made salami and cold cuts.”

However, we are disappointed as the salads are missing and the cold cuts look dried out.

There is a waiter hanging around but he is totally uninterested in what we want.

Undaunted by his lack of interest I simply skip the salads.

We then walk on to the soup section which offers two different kinds of soup. My son looks at both and decides he wants to have both! But hang on, where is the rasam? So we decide to have the other soup. My son still wants the rasam. We have the thick residue. It tastes great!!

We’re still enjoying our jaunt and the excitement created by the dishes is infectious. So, we leave the soup area and head for the mains on the hot buffet.

What a feast!

There is steak with pepper sauce and my son goes straight for this! He loves his steaks and these look juicy and tender.

I head for the next area. Here there are two pieces of fish served in a Goan style sauce. It looks good but this is not how it was served in the past, the containers were never allowed to reach this stage. Replenishments were quick. Two pieces of fish in a large serving dish would never be allowed to happen. So, I ask the waiter for more fish. “Sure Sir.” he replies and he disappears immediately never to be seen again and there is still no bl…y smile!!

We decide to have the rest of the hot food with breads which are being cooked ‘live’ by a chef without the merest glimmer of a smile on her face.

We have the most succulent pieces of chicken cooked in a tandoor, we also sample tandoori paneer, chicken hariyali, lemon rice and green peas pulao. We are served bread at the table by a waiter who has gone through three years of training, but possibly, perhaps just possibly someone forgot to tell her to smile.

The manager who we met as we first entered the dining room and who showed us around the buffet has now disappeared behind a pillar and is having his lunch with another uniformed person, possibly the food and beverage manager of the hotel.

Behind that pillar was exactly the same spot, 28 years ago, that Jai Kumar (the restaurant manager at that time) and Mr PK Mohankumar would have their lunch and take it from the buffet themselves.

Fast forward to 2012 and this isn’t happening. Not here, not in this case.

The food for these two gentlemen is plated from the kitchen and then served to them at their table. Mohan Kumar would eat what the guest ate. This was his way of spot checking the food and making sure the quality of the food was top class.

I meet these two gentleman as I go back to the buffet for my next helping of hot food and we pass by one another within inches. Neither wants to know about my experience, neither gives me eye contact and neither is smiling.

What’s going on here? It really does seem as though everyone working in this restaurant is under pressure to perform and is working under duress and tremendous stress!! If the ‘top brass’ aren’t happy then how on earth can their staff be?

The young waiter who brought the breads on the table is not smiling, possibly because she has not been told what her exact job is and she expected to be in the manager’s shoes by now but instead she is employed as a waiter.

The young chef who made the chicken kebab for us isn’t smiling either but not just for work reasons. This woman thinks the whole world is her enemy. However, on top of this burden she also wants to be in the sous chef’s shoes and not cook some damn’d kebab for some irritating father and son who have the audacity to come and ask for food at a buffet. She never, ever appears to smile.

The manager doesn’t smile because he thinks he deserves to be in the food and beverage manager’s shoes and he is not happy doing what he does, so it’s not surprising that he isn’t smiling.

The gentleman in the black suit (the general manager) is not smiling because he has been doing the same old sh.t for so many years and therefore sees no reason to smile. Ever. He should be the general manager of this hotel, or so he thinks.

So, the father and son are having their food. They’re loving the taste of it but they’re not enjoying the ambience.

You see, suddenly I realise that we are also not smiling at each other! The non-smiling visage is catching.

You see, this is what I was told when I worked here, a long time ago now: it was to serve everyone with a smile because “you can’t give away a smile, it always comes back to you!!”

A smile turns a customer into a friend and a friendly customer is a happy customer!! And so it follows that this customer keeps coming back not only for the good food but for the atmosphere and the friendliness!

As I make my way towards the cashier counter to pay our bill my son points towards the sign at the entrance, this was ‘Southern Comfort’ then. Well, it isn’t Southern Comfort any more.

The ‘comfort’ from this coffee shop has disappeared and is now called. . .

Well, I don’t know if this was my last visit to the place where once Nauzer Daruwalla  was the general manager, Mohankumar was the food and beverage manager, Anil Mohan was the executive chef and all of us had a ‘ball’ working together.

the team

The hotel back then was called the Taj Residency. Today it is called. . .

Well, I’ll leave it to you to work out what I think it might be called today but I want to leave you with a little message:

A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive it without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, if it is something that is of no value. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. (Anon.)

Anah Daata Sukhi Bhaava !!!

A master class on Friday the 13th

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

It’s Friday the 13th.

I am in Nagpur and it is a very important and memorable day for me personally.

This is the day, 14 years ago, my son Aniruddh was born.

This is also the day, in 2012, I was extremely lucky to watch a real master chef cook for my son’s 14th birthday.

But before we talk about the menu, let’s check this chef’s CV.

This chef has never worked in a restaurant, let alone a 3-, 4-, 5-star hotel.

This chef has been cooking for nearly 65 years and has never been to a catering school, or been through an apprenticeship, and has never been paid to perform this ‘wonderful act‘, ever.

This chef has cooked with only two basic ingredients: fursat and mohabbat (leisure and love), even when there hasn’t been much of either in the kitchen, or the pantry. (They call it ‘passion’!)

It was not about the raw material or the ingredients as much as it was about the affordability that made this chef cook for year after year and do a blo..dy good job that would make any executive chef of a 5-star hotel proud. (They call it ‘food cost’!)

This chef can even create dishes from leftovers that are to die for. (The French call it rechaufe.)

This chef has never appeared on the TV though mind you, if given a chance would have given both Heston and Rhodes a run for their money for the knowledge and skill that this chef has! (I’m mentioning these two chefs as they’re my favourite TV chefs. See, I’m not totally against TV chefs!)

This chef will pack a meal for school or work every single day of the week without ever protesting. . . (They call it ‘commitment’!)

This chef is always smiling, even if the circumstances around do not permit it. (They call it ‘love’!)

This chef never complains about anything, and when I say that, I mean anything. (They call it ‘dedication’!)

This chef has mastered the art of cooking real Indian food, no not the butter chickens, beef vindaloos, chicken tikka masalas, lamb kormas . . . you know the kinds of dishes I mean (and no, not the the damn’d Cu–y in a Hu–y stuff either), but I mean ‘real’ as in the kind of food that is eaten at home, in an Indian home, like dal chawal, varan bhat, roti aur subzi, dhokla, puran poli, aamti, cholay bhaturay and etc. . .! (They call it ‘in-depth knowledge’!)

This chef has never taken a sickie, let alone arrived late at the kitchen and has never left a job half finished. (They call it ‘punctuality’!)

This chef is a great believer in the process of cooking food as much as in the quantities of each ingredient in the dish (as you will notice below). (They call it SOP ‘standard operating procedure’!)

This chef is very well organised, meticulous, extremely clean and a treat to watch!! (They call it ‘experience’!)

This chef does not eat any meat, has never ever eaten meat, but can make most ustaads (masters) look like bachchas (kids) when cooking meat dishes, especially mutton and chicken. And amazingly, this chef does all of this without any tasting. (They call it ‘memory’!)

According to this chef, if the process is right and the ingredients are perfectly measured, how in the world can you go wrong (i.e. why bother with a taste test?)! This is the simple philosophy of this chef!

This chef is still cooking eight years after having lost their life partner.

They say, if you want to see real India go to the villages.

I say, if you want to eat real Indian food, go to the home of this master chef.

I call her Aai, my mother!! She is 85.

Aai, my mother, at work

There is a ‘master chef’ in every home in India!!

And now the menu for the 13th of April.

Aai, my mother made: matki chi usal (mung beans sprouted at home, steamed and tossed with whole spices, ground chillies and garam masala).

Pooris (puffed wholemeal breads).

Kakdi chi koshimbir (grated cucumber with ground nuts and beaten yoghurt).

To make matki chi usal, follow the step-by-step recipe below. To see the recipe and quantities, please click  matki chi usal recipe.

Ingredients

Clockwise: oil, in the tray: black cumin seeds, bay leaf, black cardamoms, cloves, cassia bark, peppercorns, green cardamoms, ground fenugreek, asafoetida around the plate: chopped onions, ground ginger and garlic (mixed together), turmeric, chilli powder, roughly chopped cooked tomatoes, salt, garam masala, sprouted mung beans, steamed

Step 1

heat oil in pan and when smoking, add black cumin seeds and let crackle

Step 2

add each spice individually, folding mixture as you add each one

Step 3

add chopped onions and fold

Step 4

keep folding as the onions caramelise, then add ground ginger and garlic, fold again

Step 5

cook till mixture caramelises and oil comes to surface

Step 6

add turmeric and fold

Step 7

add chilli powder and fold, followed by ground fenugreek and asafoetida

Step 8

drain steamed mung beans (set pot liquid aside)

Step 9

add mung beans and fold

Step 10

add chopped tomatoes and pot liquid, as required, and fold

Step 11

bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, serve hot with pooris

To make pooris, follow the step-by-step recipe below:

Ingredients

to make dough, mix wholemeal flour, salt, water and a little oil to form a hard dough and set aside

Step 1

knead dough till it leaves the palm easily

Step 2

divide dough into equal dumplings, flatten each dumpling into a flat round disc. Heat oil and fry each disc (the pooris will inflate)

Step 3

press lightly with a slotted spoon to make the poori rise

Step 4

turn over poori when the underside is golden brown

Step 5

Anah daata sukhi bhaava!!

So what’s the big deal about sharing a recipe. . .?!

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

I thought the days of ‘secret recipes’ and family secrets were long gone till I reached a place called Nagpur in Central India and found that they are both alive and kicking!!

Nagpur brings back a lot of memories. It is one of my favorite places to visit when in India along with Hyderabad, Madras and Bangalore.

Bangalore is where I made my mark as a chef, Madras is where the seeds were planted for becoming a chef, Hyderabad is where I realized that there is more to life than just becoming a doctor, or an engineer, but it was in Nagpur where my journey in life began.

I was born here, my sisters were born here, my brother was born here and finally, just to round off the circle perfectly, my mother was born here too!!!

Nagpur is an amazing place, deeply soaked in history, rich in culture and, of course, lots of good  food to go!!

Bhakri and kandaycha zhunka with lahsanaa chi chatni is something to die for; there is bhakar wadi, pooda chi wadi and much much more . . . and, standing on its own in this list, there is saoji chicken or mutton!!

This dish can have vindaloo added to it and be served for breakfast, lunch and dinner and still have room for more chillies and spices! It is hot but not fiery, it is spicy but not overpowering, and it is the best blo..y dish that man has created, in this part of the world, that has never been adulterated!!

The dish has stayed  true to its roots, the recipe has been passed on from one generation to the next (at least in this case) and has never been documented, and never photographed before, whilst being cooked!!

I learnt this the hard way when my brother-in-law,Subhash Dada and I, were promised a complete experience in the making of this dish by a famous restaurant in Nagpur. We were so excited about being able to photograph the dish being made we promptly packed our photographic equipment and reached the destination full of enthusiasm and having chatted about how we’d take the photos and what the end product would look like, only to be told that we were not welcome and that the owner/chef was happy and content with the business he generated and did not desire any extra publicity!!

We were, however, more than welcome to buy any amount of the said dish, or any dish for that matter, but no photography of any sort was allowed, and certainly no questions were to be asked about the recipe.

We returned home with two servings each of the chicken and mutton dish, wondering what could happen to the dish if the chef decided to, or rather just did –the bucket without ever passing on the recipe to any heir apparent!!

It’s all well and good having a secret recipe, or one that’s never written down but shared by word of mouth, and then only to a select few, but what about the recipe itself? If one of those chefs with all their knowledge goes, so does the recipe.

However, that is my dilemma and not the chef’s who mainly believes that the less the recipe is shared, the less chances of it getting ‘diluted‘ are and the more chances the recipe has of staying pure!!

I admire this way of thinking and when I see what’s happened to so many of our dishes, and how ‘diluted’ some recipes have become, I sometimes wish all the ustaads and the great chefs of the past had been wise like this chef of ours  we would never have been classified as a cuisine that serves only ‘curry’!!

If each recipe had been locked away,  every dish would be called by its true name just as in France and China.

We would have maans ke soole,avsaara vada,papite ka achaar,thatte vadai, kane rawa, gushtaba,erisseri,kosha mangsho,charmagaz ka murgh . .to name just a few from a few million dishes!

But then there is also the remote chance that this cuisine would never have gained the popularity that it has today. Maybe someone could have documented the recipes so that we had uniformity in what we cooked, à la Larousse Gastronomique!!

As for me, I am very happy to share any recipe as long as it is called by its true name, like this recipe which I was fortunate to pick up from a little restaurannt in Hyderabad a long time ago.

The dish is called “ginger chicken” and not adraki murgh or kozhi  appakari, . . . it uses no spices except for those that are present in the tomato ketchup [and yes, I do mean that bottled  stuff!].

This is a secret recipe that the chef of this restaurant shared with me with a promise from me never to dilute it!! So here it is, a secret recipe that is out of its locked box as long as you follow it as it is done. Keep it concentrated, no diluting, please!

The cook of this particular dish is a young and enthusiastic engineer, Bakul, who wants to run her own restaurant serving ethnic Indian food. The young engineer skipped her assignment to help make this dish and stood in the kitchen stirring the pot (wok) for nearly 2½ hours.

Indian food could do with a few more Bakuls in its kitchens!!

The photographer is, you guessed it right, not John Slaytor my friend who is still back home in Sydney, but someone called Ajoy who is, for the moment, back ‘home’ in India!

The quality of the photographs is definitely not as good as  the earlier blogs but I promise you that John will accompany me on my next venture into this country when we will go around the entire Malabar coast, the Coromandel coast, central India, North India, the east and, of course, Hyderabad.

And we will bring back some classic dishes and some little known dishes with plenty of photos and great stories!! I do hope you’ll join us.

The Ingredients

Ingredients clockwise (starting at the 9 o'clock position): oil, kari leaves, onion paste, salt, garlic paste, ginger paste, ground chillies, tomato ketchup, chicken (cut into small pieces and soaked in iced water to remove blood)

Step 1

Heat oil in a wok and add the kari leaves and onion paste, salt and cook till the oil comes to the surface

Step 2 -Adding garlic paste: To learn how to prepare a garlic paste, click how to make garlic  paste  and scroll down to Step 2

add garlic paste and fold

Step 3 -Adding ginger paste: To learn how to prepare a ginger paste, click how to make ginger  paste  and scroll down to Step 2

add the ginger paste and fold

Step 4

whisk, or fold, slowly to prevent the onions from popping out of the wok

Step 5

fold till oil comes to the surface

Step 6

savour the fragrance like this young chef here!

Step 7

add ground fresh red chillies

Step 8

add tomato ketchup, reduce heat to low and slow cook till the oil comes to the surface

Step 9

add chicken pieces and fold

Step 10

fold all contents together gradually

Step 11 – Add kari leaves and serve. To learn how to temper kari leaves, click kari leaves technique

ginger chicken

How I wish I could steal the recipe of saoji chicken and do a step-by-step with John!! For a single page summary of this blog’s recipe, click ginger chicken recipe.

Anah daata sukhi bhaava!!

An open letter to my favourite chef. . .

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

Dear Arora saab, Chef Namaskar!

Chef Arora

It was in 2009, on my last visit to India with my son Aniruddh and wife Meera, that I spoke to you from the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and, though it was a very brief conversation, it seemed as though time had stood still.

As you may recall, it was over 20 years ago that I had the privilege of working with you and it was the best time of my life!

You were a great inspiration to me and the things you taught me during that short period have helped me in my career, both as a chef and as a restaurateur.

It has also helped me take pride in what I do and who I am.

vegetable ishtew

They were simple the things you said, like “Betae ise apne bachche ke liye bana rahe ho, aise samjho.” [Son, think as though you’re cooking for your child] and you will never go wrong.

Or another of your phrases lingers in my mind, “Khana banate huye mazaa na aaye to galti se na banana, yeh kabhi achcha nahin banega, khaana to haath se banta hai betae, lekin swaad to dil se aata hai.” [If you’re not getting enjoyment, or fun, from it, don’t do it, it will never be done well. Food is cooked with your hands and should come from the heart.] And these are only a few of the ones I remember!!

And it is this that makes me write to you today. I want to ask you this, where have all the inspirational chefs gone?

It seems to me they are too busy taking awards (and their ensuing rewards) and giving speeches in 5 star hotels!!

I have been in India for the past week and every time I turn on the tv to watch a food channel, or talk show, or a show about cooking Indian food I end up watching ‘how to cook pasta’ at home or how to make Caesar salad or make a trio of juices or cook some chicken dish…..!!

Is that really what we Indians want to cook? Have we lost all interest in our own cuisine or do we think we know everything we need to know about our food and that eating pasta and pizza is hip?!

Well, whatever the reason is, it doesn’t make for good viewing.

The guy who is presenting is totally spaced out, if you know what I mean. He has no real connection with what he is doing nor with what he is saying.

When I watch a cooking show I don’t want to be told about the dish we’re being shown because I can see that dish quite clearly on the screen! That’s so obvious and uninformative. I want to hear about the story behind the cooking. I want real information about, for example, the use of spices, the chillies and the addition of salt whilst cooking, not the impressionistic thoughts of the presenter that add no value whatsoever!

The great cricketer and TV commentator, Richie Benaud, once said, “If you cannot add to the picture, don’t talk.” Know what I’m saying?!!

And it was whilst watching these vapid programmes, without real content, or depth, or research, that I was reminded of you and how you once described the making of dal makhni that was the antithesis of these trite programmes that are ‘all about speed and show and no substance’. Yours was full of vitality, interest, knowledge and a measured pace, and I fear these features are disappearing (have disappeared).

Your five points about the dal makhani contained such measured and long-gained wisdom: never drain the liquid in which the lentils/beans are soaked as this ‘pot liquor’ helps soften the beans when you start cooking. Cook the beans on a low heat, and never stir. Add some salt after the beans are soft as the salt stops the beans from cooking. Add the spice (garam masala) as a bouquet garni and leave it in with the beans as it preserves and helps mature the dal. Make sure you add the rest of the ingredients one at a time, making sure you cook the last ingredient before adding the next. Finish the dal with Quasoori Methi (fenugreek leaves from the region of Quasoor) in Pakistan, as this prevents any flatulence!! And last, remember to cook the dal uncovered, which means no pressure cooking!! (If you want to read the blog about this, click Dal Makhani.)

Chef, what can we do to  bring back the ‘desire’ and ‘hunger’ to do well in young and up and coming chefs, like the sheer devotion the chefs of the 70s and 80s had?

Chef, how can we help young chefs take Indian food to the next level?

Most young chefs in India, and overseas, want to cook only modern/contemporary cuisine, now, of course there is nothing wrong with that, I love that cuisine too, but I want us to think for a moment. Is the world ready to eat modern/contemporary/French food cooked by an Indian chef? It’d be great if this were the case but I don’t think it is, but please do prove me wrong.

The world is ready and will accept Indian food with a modern twist, no, not Indian (con) fusion, but Indian food served in a contemporary manner where the artistic skills, along with the culinary skills, of the chef are brought to the front, something that makes him or her feel good about his or her creation.

At the moment Indian food is still seen as nothing but a “CURRY” which is not a feel-good, or seen as sophisticated, culinary term.

So what do we do? Well, we need to make the change and you need to start this process, now!!

stuffed baby eggplant

Chef, I am a student and a great admirer of this wonderful and highly varied cuisine that is dumped under the umbrella term of  “Indian food”, but my passion only happened because of chefs like yourself, and chef Arvind Saraswat, who made me believe that Indian food is intricate, delicate and highly skilled.

It is very disheartening when I meet young chefs in Australia and invite them to come into my kitchen to see how we do things and whilst most say they love Indian food, they then add in the same sentence, “But I don’t like the chilli or the oil in it.”

Indian food is not all chillies and oil. Well, you of course know this and I know it, but does the young chef in India today know it?

I think a lot of time is wasted in honouring and giving accolades to chefs in India so that they have become like politicians who need to be seen to prove their popularity!!

A chef is like a poet who lets his poem do the talking without being seen!

Chef, we are in dire straits and we need your help to bring back the aag, the ichcha, the desire to rise above the rest. I remember you once called it PASSION!!

I don’t expect a reply. I know you’re a busy man but I had to write a letter to someone. All I can do from here is share one of your amazing lentil dishes that so aroused my passions when I was younger.

Anah Daata Sukhi Bhava!!

Semolina crusted fish, one of my favorite starters for an Indian meal . . . or any meal for that matter!!

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

During one of my travels through the west coast/ghats of India in 1987/88, I was on the lookout for food that would not only be unique in taste and texture but also have a story to tell.

This tour was so that I could find different and highly specialised cuisines that we could then adapt for the luxury seafood restaurant we were running in Bangalore and so the food had to be excellent and different. Was I keen to go on this Grand Gastronomique Fish Tour? You bet!

Well, I was led to places like Dharwad, famous for its milk based desserts called peda, but that is not what I was looking for, whilst delicious, it was too simple a dish to sell in a ‘world class’ restaurant.

In Mangalore I found among other delicacies, neer dosa, a kind of rice flour dosai served with kori gassi  which was perfect to feature as a main course, but I was looking for a starter with seafood.

My friend, KK Shiva, had recommended a place called Coondapoor famous for its usha restaurant. He had also warned me to get there early as the restaurant is famous for a fried fish called kane rava fry which is sold out even before it is sold, if you know what I mean!

The owner of the restaurant, Mr Shetty, does not take any bookings so it is on a first come first served basis. Cool!!

Well, I was not going to miss out on this experience and I was extremely lucky to get the last of the ‘KRF’.

The kane fish (also called lady fish), is extremely delicate and has to kept alive till it is ready to be cooked. There is no scientific reason for this except that the usha restaurant has no refrigerators!!

Once killed, the fish must be massaged with oil which keeps the fish soft and prevents it from curling!!

The gutted fish then gets smeared with a masala called coondapoor masala, coated with semolina and fried.

What then appears is the best ‘crumbed’ fish I had ever eaten!!

This dish had to feature in our new restaurant and was sure to be a winner!!

The restaurant, by the way, is called ‘Karavalli’ and even though I left the restaurant over 25 years ago, this fish dish has never left the menu!!

Now, nearly 25 years down the line I serve a version similar to the KRF in Nilgiri’s in Sydney, on special occasions, but I use a local fish called barramundi.

This fish has a very earthy flavour and can be very easily crumbed. I love to eat it, served with a mint and coriander chatni!! For a one page version of this recipe click semolina crust fish recipe. For a step by step recipe, keep reading!

step 1

ingredients, clockwise: salt, turmeric powder, garam masala for fish, fresh chillies ground, tamarind extract, fresh chillies slit lengthways, fried kari leaves, red onions, sliced

step 2

2-inch squares of barramundi

step 3

fine to medium coarse semolina

step 4

oil for frying

step 5

to finish - lemon juice and chopped parsley

step 6

FOR THE MARINADE:

add salt

step 7

add turmeric and garam masala

step 8

add ground chillies

step 8

add tamarind extract

step 9

mix spices into a masala or marinade

step 10

coat each fish piece in the masala

step 11

apply masala on both sides, or just one if you prefer

step 12

dust fish in semolina

step 13

add oil to hot pan and heat until it starts smoking

step 14

carefully place each fish piece in the hot oil

step 15

cook till the semolina is golden

step 16

carefully turn fish over to cook both sides evenly, taking care not to damage semolina crust

step 17

keep frying

step 18

fry until fish crust turns a dark golden colour

step 19

drain each fish piece of oil

step 20

prepare bed of Spanish onion and chopped coriander, fried kari leaves with a dash of lemon juice, to serve

step 21

enjoy!

Serve this as a part of your Easter Special and watch the resurrection of . . . happen in front of your eyes!!

Anah Daata Sukhi Bhaava!!

Salaam Dost – a tribute to a true friend….Pramod G Vidur

about ajoy

i’ve been a chef for over three decades now! i trained in chennai and started off with the taj hotel group. i’ve owned nilgiri’s indian restaurant in sydney for over 15 years. i’m on a mission to dispel the myth that indian food is no more than a ‘curry in a hurry’! come with me as i try and educate. indian food is my passion (alongside cricket!) and i’m enjoying exploring the new social media to fulfil this passion! i’ve also published cookery books, been on tv, the radio, won awards! now i’m also moving into making cookery videos. these are simple and easy to follow and don’t go on for hours like some Bollywood movies!

for old time's sake

Date: January 20th 2010.

Place: Bangalore.

I am on my way to my friend Md Asif’s house for dinner with my son, Aniruddh, and my wife, Meera, when my mobile phone rings. It is from my school friend Pramod as it shows on the mobile. (I had met him in Hyderabad on the 21st of December 2009 and we had a great time together after nearly 27 years! He met Meera and my son Aniruddh for the first time back then.)

I decide not to pick it up, hoping to call him back after dinner.

Pramod lived in a place called Nasik in Maharashtra. He was the chief engineer of the Maharashtra State Transport Board, having worked with them ever since he graduated as an Electrical Engineer from the JNTU in Hyderabad and had risen up the ranks to be where he now was.

He was quite a big fish in that company and was looking forward to retiring after six more years of service to spend  time with his son, Abhinav, and his wife. But that was not to be. And I also forgot to return his call.

We returned back to Sydney on the 26th of January 2010 and on the 28th of January I receive an email from Abhinav that says: “Hello Uncle Ajoy. I am Abhinav, your friend Pramod’s son. Dad was trying to get in touch with you. But destiny had other things in store for him. Dad passed away on the 27th. . .”

Damn it!!

I wish I had picked up that phone call from Pramod. Maybe I could have been of some help and maybe. . .!! But it’s too late to dwell on maybes and what-ifs.

But I can dwell on some memories and here’s mine of Pramod. I met him for the first time when I joined the Kendriya Vidyalaya Trimulgherry in Secunderabad in 1975. It was also called the Central School.

Pramod belonged to the ‘cool’ group that included John Zacharia and  Biswajeet. Every student in the class wanted to be a part of this group, but only the lucky ones got in!

Some got in for a day, others for a week while some only got to be a part of it for recess!

However, thanks to Mrs Sharma, our Geography teacher, I got to sit next to Pramod in every class!

Now it was up to me to prove my worth. I made my moves with caution and slowly but steadily got into the group. Once in I was there to stay. I soon realised that Pramod was born with a rare heart disorder called RHD (Rheumatic Heart Disease) which meant that he was exempt from sport but it also meant that he could spend that time in the library and read while we did the physical activities!! He had spent a year or so in the military hospital and the doctors had warned him that his life might be short-lived.

school wall sayings like these at KVTrimulgherry

Time passed and we both carried on in school but in 1977 both John and Biswajit decided to change schools.

This happens, families take different paths.

Zach joined the Loyola College and Biswajeet joined the army!! Back at our school we are now down to a team of two, although we do get Subodh and Ajit in the group for a short period.

Then, by other curious twists of fate, Ajit and Subodh move to Delhi and Chandigarh, respectively and so we are back to the duo.

Fast-forward to Year 11 of school, that’s 1978, which was a very special year to be in Year 11. We were the first batch to embark on a new education system called the ‘10+2’. We were allowed to sit competitive exams for entry into medicine, engineering and even the defence forces.

Pramod, even at this young age, is very clear in his mind. All he wants is to do a degree in electrical engineering whilst I am not sure about my future. So I end up sitting all the exams and go nowhere, fast.

I wasn’t interested in studying. Whilst Pramod read quite happily I was busy playing cricket for my school and boy, did I take that seriously!

Pramod joins the JNTU for his engineering degree and I  join Nizam’s college for a degree in science which I was never going to complete, as my heart wasn’t in it and life for me at that point was going nowhere!!

However, it is here that Pramod introduces me to one Mr Madhava from the Food Craft Institute in Hyderabad who gets me an apprenticeship in the newly opened Banjara Hotel. I last there for a few weeks and decide to move to Madras and thus begins my journey into the food industry.

So, thanks mate, you saved me from. . . well, you know. . .

So, we stay in touch and in 1982 Pramod graduates from JNTU and moves to Mumbai. I go to Mumbai the same year to train at the Sea Rock Hotel and am hoping to have a good time with my friend. The odd hours of my shift work means that I sleep all day and work late at night, and it also means no bl..dy partying!! This also means that, as happens with life, I lose contact with my friend for the next 27 years!!

Fast forward again a few decades and we’re now in Sydney, 2009.

My family and I are planning a holiday to India when my son says to me, “Hey Daad (sic), can we meet your friend Pramod this time when we are in India? You can always Google his name and maybe you. . . well, you know. . .” Google! Okay, son, got it!!

So after 27 years we decide to meet in Hyderabad at our old school. We both are to come along with our sons and our wives.

at the alma mater

So, we enter our old classroom and it really felt as though time had stayed still for almost 30 years!  Koi Lauta De Mere Beetein Huay Din…….!!

We have lunch at our old favourite, Paradise,  and we have our old favourite dish mutton biryani and it still tasted just how I remembered it, damn good!!

dining at Paradise with my son Aniruddh and Pramod

Pramod offers us his company car to drive us around Hyderabad while he takes off to Nasik for work. We agree to meet again, this time with his wife and son Abhinav when we’re in Mumbai next in 2012.

Unfortunately, I will never be able to meet Pramod again. The doctors’ warning came true. After nearly 32 years of having a ‘good’ life, my friend decided it was time to take off!!
R.I.P my friend, I will finish the bottle for us both!!

Anah Daata Sukhi Bhaava!!!