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This is a very simple dish if you get fresh large shrimp. Our five year old niece loved it so much that she calls it “Pradnya aatya kozhambi fry” (Pradnya aunt shrimp fry). You need:

• 10-12 fresh large shrimp. Remove shells, de-vein and wash
• 1 tablespoon Kashmiri red chilly powder (reduce quantity if using a spicier chilly powder)
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• Lemon juice
• Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and keep aside for five minutes. Heat two tablespoon oil in a pan on a medium-high flame. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the shrimp. Shallow fry for two minutes; turn them over and fry for another two minutes. Serve hot.

Note that you need fresh shrimp (uncooked, unfrozen) for this recipe to work. Shrimp cooks quickly, so be careful not to overcook it.

You may add a bit of garlic; or ginger garlic paste; or garlic, cumin and coriander powder; and rice/cornflour to the shrimp… but keeping it simple tastes much better.

Tags: Recipes and Kitchen Tips by Niket
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While thinking about my previous post on grad student life and cooking, I came across a lot of interesting things on Food Network and other websites. P and I were thinking of buying better and sharper knifes to replace the ones we owned for the last few years. A legacy from our childhood days was to use inexpensive light-weight serrated knifes that did the job, but we still felt something missing in our kitchen. So for a while now, we have been looking to buy decent quality knifes: the ones that aren’t expensive like those used by professional chefs, while still of a decent quality — much better quality than what we are used to.

Of the several choices, we homed in on a seven-piece Twin Signature Knife Set by Henckels. Henckels is a German company with a reputation of manufacturing high-end knives. However, they also carry several moderately priced series of knives that are a good compromise between quality and price. The one knife P really wants but is not included in the set is the hollow-edge Santoku knife. I think I prefer the chef’s knife and P prefers the Santoku. Santoku is a Japanese-style knife, usually better suited for people with smaller hands. She also wants to try the hollow-edge knife, which is advertised to prevent veggies from sticking to the knife while cutting. Since I don’t care for those hollow edges, we are going for the “normal” Chef’s knife and the hollow-edge Santoku.

Tags: Recipes and Kitchen Tips by Niket
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Sudipta has a humorous post on his misadventures in the kitchen. Suyog replies with his tips on making perfect Grad student dinners. Its really a funny take on bachelor / graduate student life. Eight years, twelve roommates and ten apartments later, I feel glad to be out of this life.

I am a person who enjoys cooking and prefers a clean kitchen. I have had my share of horrors. I have lived in apartments having kitchen sinks overflowing with unwashed utensils. I have shared cooking turns with roommates who make generic two-onion-four-tomatoes-ginger-garlic gravies with a ton of garam masala and food overcooked and cooked still longer.

However, it does not have to be this way. There are some really amazing sites sharing simple to make recipes. Check out Indira’s site for some awesome Indian recipes. Food network has some awesome recipes and important cooking techniques. You don’t have to be a cooking enthusiast to learn some knife skills. A lot of you cook occassionally. Learning the “right” way of cooking will help you (i) reduce the amount of time you spend in cooking and cleaning, (ii) improve the taste, (iii) reduce the chance of injury, and most importantly (iv) make cooking fun. In fact, I found myself cooking more often when under a greater work related stress; cooking acted as a stress reliever for me.

With that, I present to you my first tip: learn recipes that avoid the use of onions and tomatoes. Its sad but true that the general perception of Indian food is about a onion-tomato based curry. All food ends up tasting the same, no matter what ingredient you use. You tend to overcook food and the food loses its own taste. What you taste is the generic gravy. But the biggest reason: these are the most time consuming recipes.

Believe me, whenever you have an onion-tomato based recipe, it takes you far more time to prepare the food. First, you have to chop onions and tomatoes in addition to chopping the veggies or cutting the meats. Next, you have to cook onions until they are golden-brown, followed by cooking tomatoes until you get the gravy. Next, you add veggies and cook them. To speed up the process, you increase the heat. If careful, you end up with overcooked food, if not, you end up with burnt food.

In the next few days, I will try to write recipes for some quick and easy dishes. These include: (i) Koshimbir, (ii) Matki/Moong usal, (iii) Dal and (iv) French beans. All these recipes involve no onions. While some may have a preparation time (eg, you need to soak Matki for a day for them to sprout), the actual cooking time is less than 30 minutes, including the time required for cleaning.

Tags: General, Recipes and Kitchen Tips by Niket
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Indira runs an awesome site dedicated to Indian food. Go check it out for easy to make, healthy, wholesome Indian recipes. This aloo tikki recipe reminded me of a similar recipe I had posted on my old blog. A healthier version of Indira’s recipe, in that I add spinach and peas and use no oil in making the “hara bhara kabab”.

Here is the recipe retrieved from Google cache (without notes and comments):

Last weekend, I was planning to make hara bhara kabab (recipe from India Express) for dinner party at Ashish’s place. Hara bhara kababs are usually fried — deep fried in oil or shallow fried on a pan. […] I made the kababs on a pan, with no oil. Here is the recipe!

• 2 large potatoes, boiled
• 1 small carrot, boiled
• 1/2 cup peas, boiled
• 1 cup spinach, blanched
• 6 hot green chillies, finely chopped
• 1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
• Chaat masala
• Salt to taste

Mash together all the boiled veggies except spinach. Finely chop the blanched spinach. Mix together spinach and all the mashed veggies. Add rest of the ingredients and knead it like a dough.

Heat a non stick pan on a medium heat. Roll the mixture in your hands to form a ball; flatten the ball between your palms. Adjust the edges of the flattened pattie to make it smooth. Gently place the pattie on the hot pan.

After about 5 minutes, the bottom of the pattie gets brown. Turn over the pattie carefullyand brown the other side too. Do this with all the potato mixture. It should make about 15 to 20 patties.

Bon Appétit!

Tags: Recipes and Kitchen Tips by Niket
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It wasn’t love at first site for P and me; rather it was love at first bite… of my famous (well, at least where it matters the most) Pani puri. So, I present you the recipe in its original glory (ahem!), restored through Google cache.

The original recipe was from Jain World. I have made minor changes to it to suit my taste. This is a big hit in my friend circle. Never again will you buy instant pani puri mixes.

Hot (Green) Chutney aka Teekha Pani

Ingredients

1. Mint leaves 1 bunch (approx 1/4 cup)
2. Cilantro (coriander leaves) 1 cup
3. Green chillies (buy the Thai green chillies from Walmart supercenter) 8 to 12
4. Everest Chat masala (if not available, use Hing + Black salt)
5. Black pepper powder
6. Tamarind 1/2 cup (deseeded. You can also use tamarind paste)

Wash mint and cilantro. Cut the leaves with your hand and add to mixer. Chop chillies and add to mixer too. Add salt to taste and enough water and grind it in the mixer to make it into a thick chutney. Dont add too much water at this stage, else chutney wont be homogeneous.

Soak 4-5 tamarind pieces (or 1/2 tsp tamarind pulp) in warm water. Add this to the chutney and mix once in the mixer.

Usually, people don’t do this. But I heat a little ghee and add hing to it. When hing roasts, add the chutney to it. Let the chutney cook for 2 minutes. Then add 2 spoons of black pepper and a little black salt. Heat for one more minute.

Take off the burner. Add 15 cups of cold water. Taste the chutney, add salt if needed.

Sweet Tamarind Chutney aka Meetha pani

1. Tamarind 1/2 cup (deseeded. You can also use tamarind paste)
2. Dates 3/4 cup (deseeded, also called “pitted dates”. Get them at desi or mediterranean store)
3. Gud / Jaggery/ Mollases (can use sugar instead) - 1 cup, add to taste
4. Red chilli powder
5. Cumin seeds

Boil 4-5 cups water. When water boils, add tamarind, dates and gud/sugar. Boil themfor 5 minutes. Let the mixture cool down slightly. Grind it in a mixie. You will get a thich paste. Strain this to get thick liquid.

In another vessel, heat ghee. Add cumin seeds and let them crackle. Add the strained mixture to this. Add red chilly powder. Mix well.

Ragda

Choice 1: Boil and crush potatoes. Add salt, chat masala (or black salt). Cut onions very fine. Crush 5 to 6 pooris in the potatoes. Mix them all.

Choice 2: Boil pre-soaked yellow chana in pressure cooker (10 whistles). Cook it well. While serving, add chat masala to it.

Choice 3: (From Sharvari’s comment) You can also use sprouted moong dal instead. What I recommend is boil water, dunk the sprouted moong dal for about 2 minutes in boiling water. Strain. Season with salt and chaat masala. Goes well with boiled potato and onion as well (Choice 1)

SERVING

1. Puffed Puris (I usually buy them from Indian store)
2. Teekha pani (see above). Serve this cold
3. Meetha pani (see above). Serve this warm
4. Potato mixture or Ragda (see above). Serve this warm

Make a hole in the puri.
Add ragda or potato mixture
Dip in meethi chutney
Dip fully in teekhi chutney
Put the stuffed puri it in your mouth and Enjoy!

Tags: Recipes and Kitchen Tips by Niket
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