HOt HOT HOT - Chilli Frenzy

Hey friends sorry for being quite in recent days, been kinda busy with ‘stuff’, you know just stuff.

Okay we gonna be HOT HOT HOT today, no no nothing to do with the weather. But we do need something to drive away the chill in the air. So how about some Chillies, what do you say?. I love green chillies, as Jyostna can testify with my groans when there is a distinct lack of chillies on the dining table. The deprecation sets in and withdrawal symptoms clear to see on my sad face. The dreaded thought set in, that she does not love me anymore. I ask you, how can a man, like me so virile, strong and as handsome as George Clooney (okay okay okay, so I made it up!, hey more Charlie Chaplin then George Clooney, me thinks) have a meal without green chillies. Hey Jyostna can play tricks you know, just as I think she does not love me anymore, she unveils my beloved chillies, ohhh, imagine the scene…as I take her into my strong arms in a gentle yet firm hold, I whisper tenderly and softly in her ear…you know how excited you got me…breathless…as I trace my fingers across her face and down her neck…okay okay stop…cut…CUT the scene….too much Mills and Boon me thinks…gosh I am all hot and bothered now…. ~grin~

So for you chilli fans out there; I have several side dishes which I would like to share. I use those standard slender chillies, around 2-3 inches in length and slightly larger ones for another dish, which I will come to later. Hey foodies, the learned folks that you are, I am sure you already know that hotness of a chillies are measured in a Scoville Heat Scale, will I did not know that, but I do now

Okay a caveat, please handle with care, wash those hands and/or wear gloves when handling hot chillies. Please de-seed (more or less or none) depended where you are on the Scoville scale. If you de-seed a lot then, these dishes are really mild. So please don’t be put off, I do urge you to try and so simple to prepare too. In fact I will go straight into the method and explain what you need as we go along. I am gonna start with small amounts, say serving for 2.

The first dish is Marcha (Chilli) with Mustard and Jeera/Cumin seeds. Click on the picture to get a detailed view

Method

• Wash and chop around 6 chillies in rounds.
• In a pan start the tempering with some oil and with 2 tbsp of mustard and cumin seeds each.
• Once the mustard seeds start to pop and cumin seeds start to brown, add 1 tsp of hing
• Add the chillies and cook for around 2 mins on medium heat, stirring regularly
• Then turn heat to low and cover the pan and cook for another 3 mins.
• Empty the contents into a bowl and when the chillies are luke warm/cold sprinkle some salt and mix well. A good idea to have slightly more salt then you would normally have.

The second is Loot na Murcha (Chllies with Besan). Click on the picture to get a detailed view.

Method

• Wash and chop around 6 chillies in rounds.
• Warm around ¾ cups of water and add the chillies
• In a pan start the tempering with 2 tbsp oil and with 1 tsp of mustard seeds.
• Few seconds after the seeds have started to pop, add the water/chilli mixture. Please be careful at this point, when the water and hot oil mix, it splutters everywhere, so do it at arms length.
• Add a pinch of pinch of turmeric and salt to taste.
• Cover the pan and cook for 5 mins on medium heat.
• Add 3 tbsp of besan flour (but see below) and stir well, so there are no lumps.
• Add more besan if it’s too runny, but really depends on the consistency that you like. I like it really lumpy, like thick porridge. If its looks too thick at tiny amounts of water. Please also remember that besan thickens as it cooks, so consider this when adding besan flour.
• Cover and cook on low heat for 5 mins. Stir a few times whilst cooking.
• Add a pinch of sugar and cook for another minute. Enjoy

This dish is really great eaten when just prepared, does not keep well. When cooked besan gets cold, the mixture gets a bit dry and does not taste the same, but still good.

Now we have Fried Marchas

Method

• Wash around 8 chillies and cut a slit length ways.
• In a kadhai, add some oil, enough to fry the chillies.
• When the oil is hot, add the chillies and fry and for 30 seconds. Again be careful, the oil will splutter at the start.
• Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
• Season with salt and hing.

Finally Marcha with Split Mustard seeds. Click on the picture to get a detailed view

I used slightly larger chillies for this side dish. As rule of thump, I know that larger the chillies less hot they tend to be and since this dish is using raw chillies, I don’t want it too hot. In terms of split mustard seeds, one can buy packets of these in Indian stores. Don’t bother and split whole mustards seeds in a grinder, since it’s very difficult to remove the very thin husk.

Method

• Use about 6-8 chillies, wash and cut into rounds.
• Take around ½ tbsp of split mustard seeds and dry grind.
• Take another 1tbsp of split seeds and mix with the ground seeds.
• Add this to the chillies and mix well.
• Add, ½ tsp of salt, small pinch of turmeric and hing, plus add ½ tsp of oil and several drops of lemon juice and mix well.
• Let it marinate for a day before eating
• Store in a air tight container in the fridge, it will keep for around 2 weeks.

That it guys...

Vagarli Khichdl

Okay, another Guajarati traditional dish, its Vagarli Khichdi. It’s very different from what I would call plain khichdi. The whole family loves this dish, goes great batata nu shaak (Potato Curry). Also good with homemade yogurt and very healthy too. In Gujarati we call the tempering process Vagar, therefore this is tempered or Vagarli Khichdi.

Thanks to Jyostna for preparing this meal and she made dal dhokli this lunchtime when my parents come around and this evening this meal was prepared as our son and daughter in law were visiting. Jyostna is such a delight, she loves feeding people, so never have to fear that I will ever go hungry…so thanks to Sridevi…opps meant Jyostna. This will be submitted to the FAHC collection.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2 handfuls of Toor dal and Rice each
• 2 tbsp of ginger paste
• 1 medium potato (chopped into small cubes)
• 1 medium onion (chopped into small cubes)
• 2 tbsp of coriander leave (chopped)
• Some curry leaves
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp hing/ asafoetida
• Salt to taste
• Hot water
• Oil for tempering

Method

• Wash the rice and the toor dal and soak for 10 mins and drain.
• Start tempering in a pressure cooker; add oil and then mustard seeds, after seeds start to splutter, add hing
• Then add onions, potatoes, ginger paste and curry leaves mix and cook for 2 mins on low heat.
• Add soaked toor dal and rice, plus add salt
• Cook for around 3 mins, till rice grains start to get translucent. Mixing all the time so it does not stick to the bottom of the pressure cooker.
• Add around 2-3 cups of hot water and the coriander leave, mix well
• Turn the heat up to high medium and cover the pressure cooker
• Wait for 2 whistles and then turn the heat to low and cook for 10 mins.
• Check to ensure it’s cooked, by pressing on toor dal and rice grain to ensure it’s soft.

As a variation the tempering can be done using gee or even a mixture of gee and oil whatever takes your fancy.

On the picture, one can see the Vagarli Khichdi with Batata nu shaak, with some tomato/cucumber/onion side dish and finely cut raw cabbage which is seasoned with some oil, chilli powder, hing and salt

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Vagarli Khichdi

FAHC

Okay you lovely folks, if you have been visiting My Dhaba you would have noticed we now have a project team and a FAHC blog up and running (this is work in progress, so changing all the time). Please do visit. Now we need your help testing recipe contributions we have received, it will add great creditability to the recipes if they have been tested, before its submitted for submission in the book. At present I am looking for names, so please leave a comment. Hey gonna cook anyway so why not one of the contributions, it will be fun.

So please help this chap, or else no more blogging for me, I will be in the kitchen testing the recipes myself, so give this guy a break okay, please help.

We also need someone to help the design and layout and help from a food photographer, we needs tip and tricks, so we can have succulent pictures in our book. Yes I said our book, since the authors are the contributors. If I can thank all the recipe contributors to this project, it will not happen without you lovely kind people.

So in summary we need:

1. We would like to assist contributors with taking better pictures. We would like a food photographer and a food stylist to help us put together tips and tricks and basic guidelines.
2. With a goal of 365 recipes and an aim to test them all each recipe requires testing and we need help. We require volunteers to assist with testing. You can make it a part of your weekly cooking sprees. We will be uploading guidelines for the same.
3. We need assistance with page layout and design of both the mock up and the book, preferably someone based in Mumbai. (Since the Content Leader (Rushina) is based in Mumbai).

Please please please help you lovely people.

Meme

I was tagged by the wonderful blogger and foodie Vini K, a fellow Londoner if I may add. Gee..how to write up a Meme on me. Hey would it not be fun to do one, say on our partners and see how close we get, gosh can you imagine the fireworks if one gets it completely wrong, Okay lets not go there…bad bad bad idea Dilip…~grin~

Anyway thanks Vini K, what made you tag me, I have no idea, it was great fun though. So here we go folks.

3 Things that scare me:

1. Snakes, frogs… (anything slithery and slimy)
2. Complete darkness
3. Being without my beloved

3 people who make me laugh:

1. My niece and nephew (although they are my brothers kids, I see them as mine). Yesterday my niece suggested we build a rocket and go get a star, ohh made me laugh. NASA are you listening, we need a spaceship.
2. My beloved (we are both crazy you know)
3. Dave Allen, Irish comedian, popular in the UK in the 60s-70s.

3 Things I love:

1. Family which is at the core of my being.
2. That smile my beloved gives me at certain times makes me go weak at the knees. Just like Sridevi…….~grin~
3. Listening to music, with my headphones on, I am in a different world

3 Things I hate:

1. Liars
2. Two faced people
3. Did I mention snakes

3 Things I don't understand:

1. Women, I have given up even trying, I just go with the flow now…~grin~
2. Greed in people. Ohh yes plus how some people that can listen and talk at the same time, how do they do that, I will never understand. So much to learn by being silent and listening, don’t you think.
3. Some odd Indian customs and rituals (don’t get me started here….grrrrrr), I think I will write a book on this. There are some deep prejudices which we need to move away from. In this day and age we need to question and evolve not simply follow blindly. I am gonna stop now, not the platform to vent at this time.

3 Things on my desk:

1. Chai
2. Laptop
3. Mobile phone

3 Things I am doing right now:

1. Pondering how to bring about that smile on my beloved's face….Hmmmm….I can’t help it, I am a silly romantic
2. Writing this
3. Watching the windy weather through the patio doors.

3 Things I want to do before I die:

1. Try and understand women (not a hope in hell I think…~grin~)
2. Ensure continued happiness of my family and devote time to the under privileged.
3. Visit major cities of the world and understand other cultures and people

3 Things I can do:

1. Sketch/Draw (not in the same league as Coffee though, go see her stuff, its great)
2. Very immature cook, not fully formed as yet…~grin~ But can cook a little
3. Impulsive and known to be crazy by friends and family. Hey I can do a party trick with a pencil but lets not go there, this is a family blog. Can tell jokes but need to work on the delivery.

3 Things one should listen to:

1. To your partner (no choice in some cases…..~hehehe~)
2. To the silence on a warm summers day, whilst laying down on a grassy meadow, eyes closed. Plus sounds of breaking waves as they hit and caress the shore/beach.
3. The cry of help.

3 Things I would never want to listen to:

1. Hypocrites
2. Egoistic people,
3. Cry of pain

3 Favourite foods:

1. Almost any street food
2. Daal dhokli
3. Mogri (it’s a bean that one gets if you let radishes grow wild)

3 beverages I drink regularly:

1. Chai
2. The odd Pint …~smile~ (honest, just the odd one)
3. Coffee

3 TV shows/books I watched/read as a kid:

1. Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90, ohhh good ole Gerry Anderson classics
2. Lots of Craft books, use to enjoy making stuff and exploring generally.
3. Books on space and astronomy. It’s was the time when the space exploration started. Ohh the dreams I had off walking on the moon. Hey I probably will end up there if I go on about Sridevi to Jyostna….~soft smile~

4 of my dearest friends whom I would like to tag for this meme:

Lakshmi

Manisha

Manasi

Priya Dilip