Calling all lovers.. er.. ‘curry’ lovers!

There are lots of things different here in the UK as compared to India.

Like for example, many of us (Indian parents/grandparents) pride ourselves in saying our children are ‘Oh soooo naughtyyyy….’ whereas here ‘naughty’ indicates the kid is ‘bad’!

And when I say ‘tea’ I really mean the sweet, hot liquid with milk.. tea! Not the ‘London’ version of tea that means a nice evening snack (that tea is a part of!)

Or for example, ‘curry’, which to me, means vegetables, diced/chopped/etc, tempered with mustard seeds and seasoned with regular, mundane spices and not a thick gravy flavoured with cream or coconut milk! Which by the way, reminds me of what a local tour operator once said… ‘Britain’s favourite food isn’t Fish n Chips, but ‘Chicken Curry’!

So here is a dish, that we absolutely LOVE! With a Japanese/Chinese flavour, this is a one-course dish, scrumptious, filling, healthy (well, in part!) and absolutely droolicious.

Its actually a signature dish of Wagamama, called ‘Yasai Katsu Curry’ (Fried vegetables curry with rice). Obviously this is the ‘vegetarian’ version (actually, ‘eggetarian’ as you do need a little bit of egg to coat the veggies in). However, you could easily replace the veggies with slices of chicken and it would taste just as good (my non-vegetarian friends would claim it tastes even better!) The curry here refers to a Japanese style of curry. Wiki says it all!

First, let me post a picture.. to see if it tempts you!!

Did you like this, did you? Did you?

Ok, so I hope I have your very kind (stomach-growling) attention now!

Before I very generously share this magic recipe with you, let me give you an estimate of how much time this dish takes, to make. Er.. around an hour (more, if you make all the ingredients from scratch, and less, if you decide to play smart like I did, and buy some of it from the store).

The trick, really, is to get all the ingredients ready before-hand, and then the actually cooking/serving is actually quite quick.

I can guarantee you, the effort is really worth it, considering this is a one-pot meal, that your folks are going to LOVE!

So, for the ingredients.

We actually have FOUR sets of components here.

1) For the main Yasai Katsu:

(a) Vegetables like Brinjal (aubergine), Butternut squash and Sweet potato work best. Just slice them. This really depends on how you want your veggies. Wagamama serves thick slices, whereas I like em thin 😉 so I sliced a brinjal into 0.5 thickness.

(b) Half a cup of ordinary white flour with a pinch of salt

Crisp bread crumbs mixture

(c) Two full cups of a mixture of crumbs (Bread crumbs and plain salt crackers (I used Melba Toasts) ground into fine crumbs, to add a crisp texture to the veggies)

(d) One egg, beaten lightly.

You could add your choice of spices to any of these, really. I just added some salt to the flour, and some more salt, coriander powder and tumeric powder (Tee hee… an Indian cook after all!) to the bread crumbs mixture. But make it the way you like it. If you like your food spicy, then go for it!

2) The side: Now you could serve either crunchy vegetables or a side salad. I chose the veggies, simple because I had no salad at home 😉 Take your pick of colourful capsicum(peppers), baby-corn, mange-tout… vegetables that will suit a quick stir-fry.

Mmmm... stir-fried crunchy vegetables!

3) White rice. You could either use plain ponni rice/sona masoori rice or basmati rice. It tastes good either way. Wagamama serves this dish with some yummy sticky white rice, that I have NO clue how to make. So I faithfully stuck to our aromatic basmati 🙂

4) And lastly, the curry sauce. Now, Google says it is to be prepared this way.

Onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder – Fry it all, simmer with a little water for about 15 mins, cool it, and grind it with a little more water. Simmer again for about 15 mins.

Now, how do you cook this delicious meal? Really , truly simple!

Step 1: Cook your rice. I washed 1 cup of basmati rice, added 2 cups of water to it, and chucked the bowl into the microwave, first for 10 mins, then a quick stir, and another 7 minutes.

Step 2: Now, while your rice is getting cooked, take a couple of minutes to grind the bread and the crackers together to get a fine bread-crumbs mixture. Beat an egg, and keep it aside. Keep the flour ready. Start heating up the oil. Don’t slice your brinjal until it is time to fry them.

The Yasai and Katsu stuff

Step 3: Get your curry sauce organized. I’ll be honest. I didn’t make the curry sauce myself. Just bought a pack of ‘curry sauce powder’ from the supermarket and added it to boiling water. Voila!! A nice, thick, sticky curry sauce.

Side aside

Step 4: Roughly chop your side vegetables into 1-inch pieces. Heat one teaspoon of mild/medium olive oil (for health reasons… well, don’t ask me why I insist on olive oil, when the bleddy veggies are going to be deep-fried!!), and throw the veggies in. Stir-fry on high heat for about 3 mins and take them off the pan. Puhlees, for heaven’s sake, don’t cook them soggy!

Also, if you have a couple of minutes to spare, do peel a carrot, and slice slivers of it, for garnishing. It adds that ‘special’ touch, you see 😉

Step 5: OK, now for the frying bit. By this time, you should have your rice, your curry and your side salad/veggies READY. So take those slices of brinjal (if you are using sweet potato/squash, please cook them in boiling water before frying them), coat them lightly in flour, dip them in the egg, and load them with the crumbs. Once you have about 3-4 ready, slide them gently into the hot oil. You know how to fry, don’t you? Just ensure it does not get burnt! And, drain excess oil onto tissue paper.

Step 6: Pile your plate and serve Hot Hot Hot!!!! Invert a cup of rice, arrange the fried veggies, add some side veggies, ladle the curry sauce, and garnish with carrot!! And.. Bon Apetit!!!

Mmmm.... Yasai Katsu Curry!

So, tell me, did you like it? Did you?

Bits, Bobs and Sexy legs

Ok, if you are one of those few people who re-read the title just now, for your kind information, it is ‘bIts, bObs and sexy legs’. Perverts… 🙄

I miss blogging! I miss reading posts by my blog-buddies, I miss commenting, I miss replying to the very kind comments on my own blog! 24-hours a day is simply not enough! There is so much to do, so much to not do… and hardly any time to write. So here are a few bits and bobs….

1) Just read this yesterday: ‘It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place‘. How very true. You simply have to run faster than ever before, just to remain in the same place. I thought this was by Kotler, however, Wiki told me otherwise. To read the source of this brilliant line, do click this link.

2) We were browsing the ‘Father’s Day‘ Cards at Tesco today, and the young security boy commented about how ‘people are marketing every single thing!‘ and how ‘there is a day for every thing and every one’. I agreed , nodding wisely, until he blurted, ‘There’s a fathers day, a mother’s day… at this rate, they will introduce a Child’s day!‘ I guess this boy hadn’t heard of ‘Children’s Day’ 😆 😆 😆

3) On sexy legs… (Ah…. finally!)

I actually went to the gym last month. Twice so far! And I actually enjoyed it. Now having sweated out for two hours (one hour each session), I instantly felt ‘fitter’ than ever before.

So, there is this pedestrian crossing that I have to cross every day, to drop the Brat off at school. There is a glass wall on the opposite side of the road.

Now, the Brat and I were standing on this side of the road, waiting for the traffic signal to change, so we could cross over to the other side. And voila!! In the glass wall, I saw the most amazing reflection of my legs. Looking lean and long in those dark blue denim jeans. I was amazed at the results of my two hours of gym-ing. I gazed at the reflection for a couple of seconds, sighing, wondering why I didn’t begin exercising earlier. And then – guess what happened next….

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And then.. the pair of legs turned around and started to walk away!!! 🙄

Despite my average levels of sanity, I could not – for the life of me – figure out (pun unintended) how my sexy legs could do that … Until I realised those belonged to someone else. .. to a real girl who was actually standing behind the glass wall and whose upper half was hidden by a board that contained the tube map 😦

🙄 🙄 😆 😆

It was all I could do, to stop myself from clicking a picture. Saks would have done a great job, but hey, I am not her.

On that note, where the hell is she????? And that reminds me, where the hell is every one else? Where are Vimmu, Solilo, Indyeah? Where are Pixie, Swar, Mon and Uma? And why are Hitchy and Brat not commenting in their usual style? I miss all of you people.

(I also miss all those whose names I have forgotten remembered but just not written down ;-))

Itna sannata kyun hai bhai???

(4) P.S: I watched ‘Ready‘ yesterday. Total time-pass!! The first half of the movie was funny and had quite a few laughs, and great catchy numbers. The second half was entirely boring. So any of you planning to watch it, have fun 🙂 My Brat cannot stop singing Dhinka Chika and trying to copy Sallu’s moves 😉

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y1V5up6ljw

(5) Edited to add: Just read this line on a fan-page on facebook. Lines of appreciation for a very popular male person, from his female fan…

‘….Its been a pleasure sharing with you as to my recent interest which had grown oversize…’ 🙄 🙄 🙄

I seriously wonder what she was referring to… any guesses?!!!!!

P.S: For the non-perverted mind: The male was Vah Chef  😉

Btw, I am a huge fan of Vah Chef myself… I enjoy his recipies on Youtube… and most importantly, I looooooooooooove his expression when he tastes his own food 🙂 Priceless and totally enviable 🙂

Happy rest of the week, folks. I am not sure when I will be able to reply to your lovely comments. But please keep writing ….

Indiblogger and Indivine again

Hey Peepals,

In case you are an Indi-Blog-ger and are checking out the latest posts on IndiVine, please do ‘promote my post’ titled ‘The Two Minute Tikka’ which I am quite sure, you lovely people, have already read.

Here is the link:

http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=5269

Thankooo.

xx

(P.S: Have a good weekend!)

The Two-Minute Tikka

How to make authentic-looking paneer-tikka in just two minutes. And that’s a promise!

Step 1- Place non-stick tava on hob, turn on the heat.

Step 2- Take a minute to chop the paneer into large cubes, soak in an instant marinade of ginger-garlic paste . Add a pinch of haldi, chilli powder, talcum powder…you get the drift, right? Just dump all the powders you find in your kitchen!

Step 3- By now, you see those fumes from the Tava, don’t you? Go ahead! Drop those cubes in gently. Drizzle with oil.

Step 4- Go for a walk, a crap or a pee. Whatever! Just goooooooooo!

Step 5- The final step! Within another minute (or so), you will sense that burning smell. Now, return and take a look at that pan!

You will quickly realise how authentic that Tikka looks. Beautifully smeared with charcoal all over. Covered in smoke! Infact, your entire kitchen will resemble a tandoor!

(On second thoughts, we could probably rename this ‘Smoked Tandoori Paneer Tikka’ or something that sounds just as exotic!)

So, all you need to do now is scrape the stuff off the Tava, spread on a white porcelain plate, garnish with fresh coriander and add a dollop of tangy chutney or ketchup.

(Awwww…..how I wish I had taken a picture of the da*n dish yesterday! You would have loved to see it!)

Bon Appétit!

The art of making chapatis

A typical South-Indian, I always believed that chapatis are best made by our excellent North Indian neighbours. It was only after marriage and setting up our home, that I realised we could do it as well.

First , take some aata (aata, not maida), say about 6-7 scoops. Of course some of it falls on the table, and you need to mop it up, while swearing at it. Add a little salt, half a cup of hot water, and start mixing the dough. Then, since the water is not enough, add another cup, and keep mixing. Suddenly you realise that the dough seems way too watery, so you add scoop after scoop of aata until the dough becomes a little manageable. Experiment spooning some curd, thinking it will make the dough soft. Since the entire dough is now a sticky, gooey mess, just add more aata and finally, you will end up with the perfect dough, not too soft and not too hard. The litmus test is to put stick your finger (the fore-finger please) into the dough, and removing it, finding none of the dough sticking to it.

Then, place a tava (preferably non-stick) on the burner, and start rolling out the chapatis. First take a ball of dough, and press it down, then sprinkle some aata on it, and keep rolling. When you lift it, to roll in the other direction, you will find that it sticks to the base (of the table or the “kallu” on which you roll). That’s all a part of the game..just tear it off the base, and when it rips, roll it up again into a ball, and re-start the rolling process.

Now is the interesting part – you will realise that you have indeed learnt something from your school days. “Geography”. You will find that the chapatis morph into maps of various countries (my all-time favourite is Australia), some which you are familiar with, and some countries that you have never seen before. Never mind. Just keep up the good work. In the interim, a smell of something burning will gently waft through and hit your nose, when you will realise that it is the empty chapati tava. Then you hurriedly dump the chapati on it (don’t worry if the map changes shape slightly, global warming is always causing this).

An attempt at multi-tasking at this stage may lead to a conical chapati being rolled out, while the Australia map develops black craters. Anyway, make the best of the situation, by positioning the cone as a “heart-shaped chapati” to woo your spouse who returns tired and stressed from work. The craters may be scraped off.

Oh, with regard to the chapati on the tava, once bubbles appear on one side, turn it on the other side and wait for more bubbles. Once they appear (ignore bubbles that escape through the well-ventilated chapatis), press the chapati with a cloth to force it to “puff-up”. In case it still doesn’t puff, sprinkle finely chopped onions and tomatoes, and a little pepper and offer your very own ‘masala papad’ as a starter.

Phew, now that all the maps, chapatis and papads are ready to be served, fold the really unrecognizably-shaped chapatis in such a way that they appear as neat semi-circles. After all, presentation does impact appetite. Bon appetito!

By the way, this method of making chapatis will surely lead to weight-loss. Nobody will ask for a second serving, and your family can lose weight without having to exercise 🙂

P.S: For critics – the subject of this blog is only “the art of making chapatis” and not “the art of making Perfect chapatis”. So, you can’t really blame me for the above patented recipies and method, can you ?!