[Gannu_1]

Here are some of the usual dishes I had cooked/baked/prepared during the lockdown period from March 23 until May 7. Fearing that I would put on weight, I used to have just 2 meals in a day - a brunch around 11-12 PM and another meal around 7-8 PM. Plus, since I was all alone during this period, I had pretty much the entire home for myself!

Aloo paratha:





Man, they turned out better than what my wife bakes! And quite simple to make at home too. Preparation tech. - Boil potatoes in a cooker, peel them, mash them, mix salt to taste, aamchur powder (dry mango powder), a pinch of chilli powder and chopped green chillies with the mashed potatoes, stuff them between two flattened kneaded dough flats (!!!), flatten them and roast them in a tawa with ghee. Add a dollop of butter while serving. I prefer having it with chilled curd.

Appam:



I love crispy appams with the soft centers and prefer savouring it with kadala curry/egg roast. Kadala = kala chana = chickpea. Preparation tech. - Grind soaked rice (the boiled rice/puzhungal ari variant) + grated coconut + cooked rice in a mixer grinder to a fine mix, add a bit of baker's yeast mixed with warm water to this mix and leave it for 8-10 hours or overnight for fermentation. Use an appa-chatti to bake these appams and most importantly, while baking, cover the pan with the lid to ensure the center portion gets cooked nicely.

Caramel custard:





I love this dessert and it is damn simple to make although the end product can be had only after it is chilled which takes anywhere from 4-10 hours. Preparation tech. - Boil sugar in a pan to make caramel (no water to be added) and coat an alu. baking tray with the caramel, whisk 4 eggs, 500 mL boiled milk, vanilla essence and sugar in a bowl, pour the whisked contents into the tray with the caramel coating, keep the tray in a convection oven and set temperature to 200 'C, use a toothpick to see if the contents inside have been baked properly, take the tray and keep it outside to cool off a bit before keeping it inside the fridge (6-10 hours tops), take the tray out, tumble upside down and serve.

Chicken curry - v1.0:



I prepared this with the usual ingredients (curry cut chicken pieces 500g, green chillies, onions, tomatoes) and an Aachi chicken masala packet. Came out decently well - nothing to write home about. I had it with ghee rice, some fried chicken pieces and Coke for a late brunch:



Chicken curry - v2.0:



Now this one came out exceptionally well. What was the difference you'd wonder? Cashew paste! Holy hell, the difference in the taste was massive! I kept licking the ladle time and again while the dish was being prepared. I had also used Everest chicken masala powder this time. The other ingredients were the same as the last one. Do try adding cashew paste to curries. I prepared this for another lazy Sunday brunch:



Chicken stew:



I prepared this chicken stew when I had a wild craving for having bread and stew (a delicacy served in Kappa Chakka Kandhari restaurant for their sunday breakfast). It came out well but nothing like what that restaurant served.







Preparation tech. - Add 500g curry cut chicken pieces, diced carrots, peeled potatoes, green peas, a ground mix of cinnamon stick, elaichi and few pieces of cloves in a pressure cooker for a few whistles, fry diced onions and green chillies in a pan with coconut oil (coconut oil is important as it adds the characteristic taste of the stew), add salt, a pinch of turmeric powder, ginger-garlic paste and cashew paste, mix the contents from the pressure cooker to the pan and add coconut milk while stirring in low flame. Serve with bread/appam.

Egg roast:



Egg roast can be had with appam/bread/phulka rotis/rice/dosa etc. Preparation tech. - boil 3 eggs, slice them into two pieces, saute diced [onions + green chillies + tomatoes] along with salt, ginger-garlic paste, chilly powder, a pinch of coriander powder and garam masala and water, add the boiled egg pieces to the final mix. Easy as that.

Ghee dosa and sambar:



This is a lethal combo. On a really famished evening, I've managed to have 11 ghee dosas prepared by my wife along with onion sambar! Preparation tech. - For ghee dosa, I use the readymade batter from iD or Balaji. Add some salt and water to the batter packet, mix it well, pour the batter into the pan which is warm. A hot pan will not let you spread the batter evenly. So if the pan is hot, use some water to cool it down in a sink. You'd have seen how the dosa centres use a broom (!) and water to cool and clean the large pan!

As far as sambar goes, I use the sambar masala powder from Aachi or Everest. Aachi scores in the taste aspect. Boil toor dal for a few whistles in a pressure cooker along with diced [peeled potatoes + tomatoes + peeled carrots] and a pinch of turmeric powder, sputter mustard in a pan and fry diced okra/ladies' finger/bhindi in the pan and add this to the contents in the cooker, pour some tamarind paste solution to the contents, sambar masala powder and salt to taste, garnish with coriander leaves at the end. Serve with rice/dosa/idli/utthapam.



For preparing onion sambar (ulli sambar), remove carrots, potatoes and ladies' finger from the above mix, fry some peeled shallots with diced green chillies and curry leaves in a pan and then transfer it to the cooker.



Ghee rice:



The ghee rice or the ney choru is one of the most relished dishes in the malabar regions of Kerala. Having wed a girl from this region, I get to have this dish quite often when I visit my in-laws' place. I also learnt to prepare my own variant of this dish which is easy and is best served with a non-veg. curry. Preparation tech. - Add cleaned basmati rice, adequate water, few spoonfulls of ghee, few cloves in a pressure cooker and cook it for at least 10 whistles. In the meantime, fry diced onions, broken cashews and raisins in a pan with ghee in low flame until the onions turn golden brown. Add the mix to the cooker and serve.

Phulka and paneer gravy:



I experimented with this paneer dish for a dinner and hot damn, turned out quite well! Heck, even the phulkas did which I wasn't remotely expecting to! Preparation tech. - For phulkas, I used Aashirvaad's aata powder. You could try using the multi-grain variant too. The batter was prepared with the aata powder, water and salt. No oil was used and the dough was non-sticky. After baking the flattened pieces on a tawa, I transferred it to the flame directly.



For the paneer curry, I used onion paste blended with chopped tomatoes and cashews, sauted this paste with ginger-garlic paste, salt, a pinch of tumeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder, slit green chillies, coriander leaves and diced paneer cubes. Came out damn well and I loved having it with the phulka rotis.



Puttu + kadala curry + bananas:



The classic, evergreen combo every mallu loves to have! The only hard part of preparing puttu is perhaps grating the coconut. Preparation tech. - I use the puttu powder from Eastern or Double Horse (I avoid Nirapara). Mix the powder with water and salt to make it into a powdery, free-flowing form. Fill the puttu stack with a mix of coconut grating and the powder. Bake it for about 10 minutes until steam begins to come out from the top.

As far as kadala curry goes, soak the kadala/chickpea overnight in water. In a pressure cooker, add the chickpea and water and cook it for a few whistles. In a pan, add diced [onions + green chillies + tomatoes] along with salt, ginger-garlic paste, chilly powder, a pinch of coriander powder and garam masala. Some folks use chicken masala powder too which is fine - it gives that different taste to the curry. Add coconut milk if necessary which would thicken the gravy.

Afghani omelette:



I stumbled upon this dish from the FB feed. The recipe is from this website. Came out quite well and I liked it. It was a wee bit heavy for a breakfast though.

The next thing I'd love to learn is to bake breads at home after looking at the mouth-watering snaps posted here!

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

dishes I had cooked/baked/prepared during the lockdown period from March 23 until May 7.

In some movies we see how the kidnapper has the victim holding the days newspaper and giving out some message for the ransom payout T&C etc. The presence of newspapers in your pictures reminded me of that!

You have held us hostage with beautiful dishes

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Add cleaned basmati rice, adequate water, few spoonfulls of ghee, few cloves in a pressure cooker and cook it for at least 10 whistles.

Would the rice retain its shape and structure?

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Would the rice retain its shape and structure?

Haha I had to cook for several whistles with the basmati rice I had. I wasn't sure why. Once it turned out to be undercooked and the water had nearly dried up. I had to pour water and cook it a second time. In any case, if you're cooking rice using a pressure cooker, you'd know the right amount of whistles and the flame on the stove for the right output.

EDIT: Big brother bblost just pinged. He was checking if I had soaked the basmati rice in water. I didn't. Maybe that's the reason it took a lot of time for the rice to cook? He suggested soaking the rice for at least half an hour prior to cooking it which would require only 1 whistle. Thanks for the tip Immy!

[bblost]

Wheat Daliya / Bulgur / Cracked Wheat Dinner Rolls


Experimenting is something I Knead.
This was a dough yield of about 900 grams.

Daliya : 100 grams.
Semolina : 100 grams.
Whole Wheat Flour : 250 grams.
Milk : 175 grams.
Vital Gluten : 25 grams.
Butter : 50 grams.
Sugar : 20 grams.
Yeast : 7 grams.
Salt : 9 grams.
Water as needed.

Soak 100 grams of Daliya in 50 grams of boiling hot water till it naturally cools down. This will soften it for use in the bread dough.
Combine the soaked daliya with all the remaining ingredients. It will form a stiff dough. Let it autolyze for 20-30 minutes.
Start kneading. Add a little water at a time to soften it as you knead. Knead till its a soft and bouncy dough, which passed the window pane test.
Rest it for an hour or two till its almost doubled in size.
Shape and rest till its proofed correctly.
Bake at 180C for 30 minutes in a preheated oven.
Enjoy.

[bblost]

I made a couple of dinner rolls.

• All Purpose Flour: 500 Grams
• Milk: 200 Grams
• Water: 50 Grams
• Eggs: 1
• Butter: 50 Grams
• Honey: 50 Grams
• Yeast: 7 Grams
• Salt: 10 Grams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ5ZQpC3Udg

[Aroy]

Made some stuffed bread


Minced the chicken with a knife. A mix of breast and thigh pieces.


Onion, Spring Onion and Garlic. Diced fine.


Cook the stuffing in this order, stirring a minute between the items
- Onions in a bit of oil.
- Spring onion bulbs
- Garlic
- Chicken mince
Once the mince is cooked add the spring onion stalks, stir and switch the heat off. Let the stuffing cool.


Put the stuffing on a rolled bread dough.


Add Cheese Slices on the top. Now fold the dough over and crimp the edges.


Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.


Cross Section


Here is the bread made with rest of the dough

[mvadg]

Basmati Rice :
Found this method that works quite well :
https://www.spiceupthecurry.com/basm...ontainer-28069

Ingredients ▢ 1 cup Basmati rice ▢ 3 teaspoons Ghee (clarified butter) ▢ 1 teaspoon Lemon juice ▢ 2 cups Water ▢ Salt to taste Instructions

Preparation:

• Wash basmati rice under running cold water until water runs clear.
• Soak rice in enough water for at least 10-15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes drain the rice and let it dry in colander or strainer for 10 minutes. This step helps to firm up the rice. Cooking basmati rice:
• Heat the ghee in a thick bottom saucepan on medium heat. Once hot add rice and sauté them for a minute.
• Add 2 cups of water, salt, and lemon juice. mix well.
• Let the water come up to a boil. Then cover it. And reduce the heat to the lowest possible heat. Simmer it for 17-18 minutes. And turn off the heat.
• Let it stand for 10 minutes covered. This step is a must. So rice gets time to firm up and so the rice won’t break while you stir. Then open the lid. Fluff up the rice using a fork.

Notes Always use cold water to wash the rice. Use warm or room temperature water to soak the rice. Always use a deep saucepan, not shallow pan.

Nutrition Serving: 1g | Calories: 197kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 3.3g | Fat: 3.5g | Saturated Fat: 2.1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 297mg | Potassium: 56mg | Fiber: 0.6g | Sugar: 0.1g

[Cessna182]

Is there any way to use up soya chunks properly in a curry? I made a simple gravy using the usual recipe- fry onions and ginger garlic paste, add in spices and sautee, add in tomato puree and a bit of curd and lastly add in some soaked and drained soya chunks. Sadly the soya was floating on top of the gravy, and did not absorb the flavors. I'm interested in soya as it has a lot of protein- almost 50% by weight which is higher than any meat or fish. Thanks.

[Kulin_Shah]

Originally Posted by Cessna182

Is there any way to use up soya chunks properly in a curry? I made a simple gravy using the usual recipe- fry onions and ginger garlic paste, add in spices and sautee, add in tomato puree and a bit of curd and lastly add in some soaked and drained soya chunks. Sadly the soya was floating on top of the gravy, and did not absorb the flavors. I'm interested in soya as it has a lot of protein- almost 50% by weight which is higher than any meat or fish. Thanks.

I boil soya chunks for about 20 minutes, drain the hot water, soak them in room temperature water for about 10 minutes to cool them down, and then finally squeeze them with my hands to take out the water. Now they are ready to be put in the curry.

Hope this helps

[jkrishnakj]

By doing so much to the Soya (boiling, soaking and squeezing) would the Soya still retain its proteins and properties? At home, we often make Soya in this exact way, and I suspect that it’s no longer healthy.

[Cessna182]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

By doing so much to the Soya (boiling, soaking and squeezing) would the Soya still retain its proteins and properties? At home, we often make Soya in this exact way, and I suspect that it’s no longer healthy.

Protein is not affected by high temperature treatment. I don't know about other nutrients in soya though.

[amvj]

Help !

I bought Marmite (UK made, pack of 2) in the Amazon. This is the first time I tried Marmite. It's easily the bad tasting food product I ever had. They say you either love or hate Marmite. I find it’s the very definition of acquired taste. My God it's smell and taste bad. No wonder why British cuisine is mocked around the world. I thought it would taste sweet like a Jam, Nutella, but it's salty with a weird smell.

I tried it with toasted bread and butter, still I find it bad. May be I am trying it wrong. Are there any good recipe to make it better ?

[Red Liner]

Hey Home Chefs!

Any suggestions on a good Candy thermometer?

[bblost]

Originally Posted by amvj

Help !

I bought Marmite (UK made, pack of 2) in the Amazon. This is the first time I tried Marmite. It's easily the bad tasting food product I ever had. They say you either love or hate Marmite. I find it’s the very definition of acquired taste. My God it's smell and taste bad. No wonder why British cuisine is mocked around the world. I thought it would taste sweet like a Jam, Nutella, but it's salty with a weird smell.

I tried it with toasted bread and butter, still I find it bad. May be I am trying it wrong. Are there any good recipe to make it better ?

How much did you use.

Try using no more than a pea sized serving.