Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Childhood fantasies and new recipes

Since childhood, I have always fantasized about a man, who could cook and clean. However, love is blind and I am in love with somebody who can do neither. Oh yes, he can make yummy cheese sandwiches and Maggi and he can clean really well, if one is really motivated enough to remind him nth no. of times to get him to do it!!! So, somebody in our family of 2 had to pick up the spatula and you guessed it right, that was me!

Now, I was never trained or interested in cooking. My mom is an awesome cook and we never had the need to step in the kitchen. The college years were spent in hostels so we got crappy canteen food. Even after marriage, for nearly a year we were in Bombay and it was quite difficult with my work timings to cook so we had hired a cook.

Once we shifted to Bangalore, with reduced commuting time, I had more time at hand and decided to finally venture into the kitchen. From being an experimental cook, I turned to being a full-time one in a matter of 2 years. Previously, the subject of cooking was like how Mathematics is to a few people. Whenever, people started discussing recipes, I would space out after a few sentences and travel in my own wonderland. However, now I try to learn new recipes through net or through books. The recent one that I experimented with and which turned out to be a great success was Murgh Awadhi Korma (recipe taken from Femina Cookbook). I have tried my hand in cooking chicken several times and every time somehow the gravy becomes watery, But this recipe changed it all. So, here it goes (it's a little improvised from the actual recipe)...

Murgh Awadhi Korma













(ref image from Google)
Make a paste of 2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera), 1 strip of cinnamon (dalchini), 2 raw onions, some garlic, a little ginger, some black pepper and 1 cardamom(elaichi). Roast 2 chopped onions till they become brown and make a brown onion paste. Heat 3 tbsp of Ghee in a kadhai. Add 1 bay leaf (tej patta) after the ghee is hot and the paste of all the spices. Add the brown onion paste as well. Roast till the onions become translucent. Add turmeric powder, salt to taste, red chilli powder, coriander powder and a bit of garam masala powder. Let the spices simmer for a bit. Add the chicken in the spices and let it cook for 10 minutes. Add some water and cashewnut paste and let it cook for 5 minutes. Transfer the contents of the kadhai to a pressure cooker and cook till one whistle. Garnish with some chopped cashews and you are ready to serve. :)

So, enjoy the recipe and while you are at it don't forget to share some of the latest recipes that you tried and succeeded with...

7 comments:

  1. Hello supuu ...........would want to relish this recipe( prepared by you);)

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  2. In some way.. evn i share the same story!difference ..m still struggling to be a "good cook" ...atleast in one of the recepies :) Luckily i hav a help(saviour of my kitchen) at home who prepares better food dn me. Thanks fr sharing ur receipe..will try out soon. Happy Cooking

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  3. You will cook it here in Mumbai also na?

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  4. I used to cook at ur place.. U forgot tat :(

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  5. @Gayatri: For that you need to come home ;)
    @Priya: It's too soon for you sweetie..give it time!
    @Shilu: I shared the recipe so that people try it themselves, right? :)
    @Fishful thinking: How can I forget that? But the cooking never happened, it was just the bartender you! :)

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  6. well, now when I have started eating chicken I will definitely try this!

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  7. @Mady: wow! When did that happen? Do try. You can't go wrong with this one!

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