Recipe : Andhra style Peanut Chutney (Vegan / Keto)

Once I'd left the batter for fermenting overnight, I was thinking up what chutneys I wanted to go with it. Since I was making the idlis with ragi, I knew I wanted a slightly more robust chutney too. A strong contender was the Maharashtrian fiery Garlic Chilli Coconut chutney. But since the sambhar would be the same colour and super spicy, I finally decided that I wanted to make an Andhra style peanut chutney as an ode to my 2 working stints in Hyderabad.

If you've read my other posts today, do you sense the theme?

A quick online search and a recipe from Neha at Whisk Affair seemed to be the flavours I was looking to recreate.

 

I absolutely loved this one and will definitely be making it again and again. It's a chutney that can be used as a substitute for peanut butter. Totally delicious!

For the original recipe and for loads of other yummy dishes too : please visit Neha's Blog - Whisk Affair

The recipe that follows has my minor tweaks.

Ingredients :

1 tsp neutral cooking oil

1 cup roasted peanuts

1 medium onion - roughly chopped

1 tsp ginger paste or 1 inch ginger

3 cloves garlic

4-5 dry red chillies

1 tsp tamarind paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp coconut oil (or any neutral oil)

pinch of hing

1 tsp urad dhal

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp sesame seeds (optional - I just felt like using them today)

1 dry red chilli

a few curry leaves

 

Method :

Heat the neutral oil and gently fry the peanuts in it. Be careful not to burn it. Keep aside to cool

In the same pan, fry the onions, garlic, ginger, red chilli and fry for 3-4 minutes, then take off from the heat.

When everything has cooled, grind the roasted peanuts, onions, garlic, ginger, red chilli, tamarind to an almost fine paste - I like to leave a slight crunch to it..

Add water as needed when grinding.

Transfer the ground chutney to a serving bowl.

Adjust salt to taste and mix well.

Heat oil in a tempering vessel.

Add tempering ingredients quickly and don't let any of them burn.

Pour the seasoned oil and spices over the chutney. 

I made double the quantity of tempering and used the same one for both chutneys today.

 

Serve at room temperature with hot idlis / dosas or even rice and dhal or sandwiched between bread.

Recipe : Pork Chidkan / Kodava Pandi Chidkana

I first tasted chidkan in Bangalore last December when @spiceupthekari ordered it in for me from Kodava Samaja.

It was instant love at first bite! I searched high and low for a recipe for the last 8 months to no avail. Requests to Kodava friends were unsuccessful and I was wondering how to entice the chefs at Kodava Samaja to part with the recipe on my next trip to India. 

My general enquiry into this seemed to indicate that this is a recipe mostly made as a bar snack.

Then last week, I listened to @historywali chatting with @pigout_coorgkitchen and when I checked out Anjali Ganapathy's insta, I found a recipe that looked extremely promising.

Below is a pic of Anjali's original recipe on instagram at @pigout_coorgkitchen. I highly recommend following her for accessible insights into Kodava cuisine.

 
We haven’t been getting a wide variety of pork cuts during lockdown, but I found some Kassler chops that had the right fat meat ratio, so that’s what I used.

A bit of smokiness and saltiness in this brined meat, worked quite well even in the finished product.

I fried the cooked pork in a tbsp of oil, rather than deep frying it, but I still got a good crispness.

No access to parangi malu or jirgi mirsang, so I used the spiciest green chillies available here in Joburg.

This recipe may not be as famous as pandi curry, but is definitely a keeper and will be made often. Thanks so much Anjali!

I first thought I'd turn the water the pork was cooked in, into soup, but then I cooked moong dhal with that pork flavoured water for the same dinner, which just added oodles of umami flavour.

I also served Gomen / Hamli / Collard Greens with this dinner

Very very satisfying dinner indeed.

Do not be tempted to cook more than 250gms of pork per person as this dish needs to be consumed immediately after cooking, otherwise it just won't work - it will turn too hard.  

This is how I cooked it with my substitutes. 

Ingredients:

500gms boneless pork with fat  - chopped in 1 inch pieces - don't stint on the fat, it gives lovely crispy fatty flavour and texture. I used kassler chops, sorpotel cut works too

1.5 cups water 

7-8 green chillies, the spiciest you can find if you have no access to parangi malu / jirgi mirsang / birds eye chilli

2 cloves garlic

a pinch or 2 of rock salt ( I used less since kassler chops are smoked and brined) 

lemon / lime juice

 

Method :

Boil pork with 1.5 cups water in a pressure cooker until 3/4 cooked (Anjali recommends approx 2 whistles on high).

You can either chop the pork and then cook or cook the pork and then chop, whatever works better for you. 

Drain all water from the pork. 

The water can be used as stock, for a soup or I just cooked the dhal for dinner in it. 

As the pork is drying, make a fresh coarsely ground paste of  green chillies, garlic and salt (feel free to adjust quantities to your liking, this ratio worked well for us) - think thecha.

 

In 1 tbsp oil fry the pork, it will also release a fair amount of oil. This is going to spatter. 

Remove the pork from the oil (I ended up with about 2.5 tbsp oil + fat which went into tadka for the dhal)

Mix the ground chilli paste into it and squeeze lemon / lime juice generously. I used half a large lemon.

 

 

Serve immediately and be transported into heaven.

This dish is served as a snack / "tastings" with drinks, but it worked well for our dinner too.

This is exactly the version I had from Kodava Samaja. I have another half kg of the pork chops left, which I'm thinking of cooking into another version of chidkana that Anjali has shared, but that one uses kachampulli vinegar.

Recipe : Hamli / Gomen - Eritrean / Ethiopian Greens - Vegetarian - (Vegan Option)

I first tasted Hamli at Mosob in London - we have eaten so many meals here and taken so many friends to this place to introduce them to Eritrean food.

Hamli and Gomen (the Ethiopian version) are on the menu of most Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurants in London.

When I visited Ethiopia last year, I also got to taste a few versions made with niter kibbeh or tesmi - a spiced clarified butter, which obviously adds layers to the taste. I make it with regular ghee (Indian clarified butter) which is a mild cop-out but still very very flavourful.

Given the fantastic 3 day workshop on Desi Cultures that I attended last weekend, I may just venture to make ghee at home myself and if I can find the spices, I'll try making a bit of niter kibbeh too.

Mosob makes their hamli with spinach as it is easily available in the UK, however the traditional recipe calls for something closer to collard greens.

The last packet of spinach I bought at the grocery seemed more collard greens in texture and smell than what we commonly know as spinach, which is when I remembered this recipe that I hadn't cooked in a while. 

Collard greens give you a much more substantial texture without any slipperiness, kale works well too. But I've cooked it with regular spinach in London and that is also good. 

Ghee is low in lactose and milk solids, hence keto friendly, so this recipe works for a keto diet too. 

Vegan Version:

A lot of the flavour of this dish comes from the niter kibbeh or ghee, but if you want to keep it vegan, use any suitable cooking oil

 

Ingredients: 

2 tbsps niter kibbeh or ghee 

1 onion - chopped

2-4 cloves garlic - chopped

1.5 tsp minced ginger 

1 tsp jeera powder (cumin) 

1 tsp dhaniya powder (corriander) 

1 bunch collard greens / kale (about 350-400 gms) (If using regular spinach - 500 gms because this wilts much more) - roughly chopped. 

 - if you have very thick hard stems, remove them and use them in stock or tehri or any dish that gets cooked for a longer period of time. 

Salt to taste 

a little squeeze of lemon - optional 

 

Method: 

Heat 1 tbsp niter kibbeh / ghee in a pan. 

Add chopped onions, cook for 2-3 minutes until transluscent. 

Add, garlic, ginger, cumin and corriander, saute for 2-3 minutes. 

Now add your greens (collard / kale / spinach) with another tbsp of niter kibbeh / ghee. 

As it cooks down, add salt to taste. (remember greens wilt and hence the volume once cooked, will be much lower than what you start with - salt accordingly) 

Cook to your level of doneness - with kale and collard greens, I let it get a bit crispy, with regular spinach crispiness doesn't work as well. 

 

Traditional preparation does not include a squeeze of lemon, but:  

Kim's Nana's Tip: Lemon helps the body absorb iron from the greens more easily, something about Vitamin C making the soluble iron absorption into the body easier, so I always add a squeeze of lemon whenever I'm cooking green leaves. 

 

In the picture above, I've served it with rice, moong dhal and pork chidkan. This recipe pairs well with rotis and dhal too.

Recipe : Kala Channa Chaat - Black Chickpea Salad - Vegan

Ever since last Wednesday when the husband sent me photos of pani puri and other chaat that he had at Southampton at the match, I’ve been craving those flavours. Today’s salad was an attempt to capture the balance of sour, spicy, salty, crunchy without the sweetness.

I used kala channa - legumes like channa are not allowed on the keto diet because they do contain carbs - but we are on a slightly more flexible diet - for us no carb means avoiding grains, flour and high starch veggies.

Kala channa / Black chickpeas have a low glycemic index, and high fibre and protein so I will occasionally slip it in.

If you are following strict keto, avoid the black chickpeas. If you avoid the black chickpeas, this dish works for the raw food diet too.

The black chickpeas are more nutritious, but white chickpeas will also work in this recipe.

So, the salad is

1 bowl drained black chickpeas (you can use canned or soak overnight and cook the next day)

1 bowl chopped cucumber

1/2 bowl chopped tomato

1/2 bowl chopped onion,

2-3 sprigs coriander chopped

1-5 chopped green chillies (as per spice tolerance)

The dressing is

2 tbsp lemon juice,

1 tbsp chaat masala

1 tsp black salt (use regular salt if you don't have black salt)

Feel free to adjust the quantities to suit your taste.

I let the salad and dressing sit for awhile.

Just before serving, I tossed in a handful of groundnuts.

Kim's Tip : If the taste of raw onion is not a flavour you like, drop the onion completely or let the onion sit in the lemon juice / vinegar for 10-15 minutes which helps take the edge off.

The lamb kebabs were from @meatn16 that I picked up after a session of the @stokenewingtonliteraryfestival at their location.

The meat was fantastic. I just seared it on all sides and served it medium rare.

Recipe : Masala Fried Chicken

Back to no-carb, no-sugar since yesterday. Home made masala fried chicken - shallow fried in less than a teaspoon of oil.

The batter is a mix of spices, a pinch of gram flour and eggs.

Lots of chopped fresh coriander, fresh curry leaves and green chillies went into the batter too with ginger and garlic paste

This is a very light batter, gently caressing the chicken, so it doesn’t need flour, nor does it give you a very thick batter coating.

The batter is to flavour the chicken, not to encase it.

The egg makes it nice and crispy.

I used 3 eggs for 1 kg chicken.

Marinated for at least an hour.

Marinated chicken can be left in the fridge and fried the next day too, but in this case, add the egg just before frying. not before.

Shallow frying takes a lot more patience than deep frying, but the benefits make up for the effort.

This chicken works well as a snack and with drinks.

The more complex the spices, the more sated I feel. I don’t crave carbs, the way the husband does. I did give him a large glass of masala lassi to cool down the heat of the chicken and today he didn’t go searching for nuts or cheese to munch on immediately after dinner. So I think lassi is going to be a part of his daily dinners henceforth.

Salad was a mix of loads of juicy stuff in season - lettuce leaves, grated carrot, a little sweet corn, cherry tomatoes.

Dressing was the fantastic avocado oil that I bought from @hunterandgatheruk @freefromevents last weekend, a hint of cider vinegar and some dried chipotle chilli flakes.

Recipe : Carrot & Baby Radish Salad - Vegan

This was another of our no-carb dinners.

Carrot & Baby Radish Salad

4 carrots - cut into circles

1 small packet baby radish - 200 gms - quartered

1-5 green chillies chop in circles(depending on spice tolerance)

2 tsp lime juice.

1 tsp salad/olive/avocado/nut oil

2 sprigs fresh coriander chopped

salt to taste

Soak the chopped green chillies in lime juice for a few minutes.

Add salt, oil and chopped coriander.

This is your dressing.

Mix this into the chopped carrot and baby radish.

This I let sit for awhile, tossing occasionally as I was cooking the chicken.

The carrots and radish are crunchy.

So it sits well and the flavours blend together if left for a bit.

The Masala fried chicken is just chicken cooked with onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and some spices I had on hand.

Recipe : Bean Sprout Salad (Vegan)

This salad is bean sprouts.

2 minutes stir fried in a hot pan (any more and you will lose the liquid as they start to turn soggy and soft). I’m not a fan of their raw taste, so just about 2 minutes.

You can use them raw if you like.

Dressing

2 tsp lime juice,

1 tsp soya sauce,

1 tsp chipotle chilli flakes,

1/2 tsp Chinese all spice powder

1 tsp of hazelnut oil - I need to finish this bottle, any olive oil or salad oil will work too.

Toss gently.

I served it warm, because sprouts once heated can turn soggy quite quickly.

It barely takes 5 minutes to put it together.

So glad the weather is turning warmer and we can eat a lot more salads.

I served it with a Texan slammer - jalapeño poppers with cheddar cheese, encased in pork mince / sausage meat and rolled in bacon from @marksandspencer Lightly pan fried at home.

Fridge Cleanout : Bamboo Shoot & Mushroom Miso Soup with Thai herbs.

Another clean out the fridge recipe.

I had a frozen bouquet garni of thai herbs (lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime & chillies) which I crushed & boiled in water.

Remove the herbs/ strain.

Then in went some chopped bamboo shoot from the back of the fridge.

Next, in went whatever was left in the miso paste jar.

The final stage was chopped chestnut mushrooms (that I’d retained from Sunday’s fryup, just for this soup) and emptied out some New Orleans’s hot sauce bottles.

Garnished with chopped coriander .

Voila! Fusion Asian Soup for a snowy evening in London.

Recipe : Salmon Soy Wasabi

Another low carb meal that is quick to prepare.

I added a hint of honey to the marinade for a bit of sweetness and a sticky glaze, , but you can drop the honey for a keto dish.

Ingredients:

4 salmon fillets (about 400 gms - skin on or off - your choice)

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp soya sauce

1 tsp grated ginger

1-2 tsp wasabi paste (wasabi paste and fresh root differ in spiciness - taste and adjust)

1/2 tsp honey (optional)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp oil

Method:

In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice, soya sauce, ginger, wasabi and honey.

Marinate your cleaned and dried salmon in this mix for about 15-30 minutes.

Kim's tip : Don't marinate delicate fish fillets for too long in an acidic marinade, you may just end up with hash in your pan when the fish starts flaking apart.

Heat a pan with the oil.

Scatter the sesame seeds in a plate.

Roll the marinated salmon in the sesame seeds and pan fry lightly on both sides for a couple of minutes until the fish is done to your liking.

Remove the fish from the pan to a plate.

Put any leftover marinade and sesame seeds into the pan and thicken, then pour over the fish.

This was a no carb meal, so I served it with stuffed peppers and a salad, but you can serve it with any simple rice, fried rice or noodles.

Recipe : Lime Rice, Grilled Broccoli, Minute Steak and Peanut Sauce

This recipe also came to me via one of Gousto's Boxes. We loved it and I'll definitely cook it again.

If you drop rice as an accompaniment, this recipe is keto friendly. Peanuts in small quantities are allowed on the keto diet.

This recipe is for 2 people.

Ingredients:

1 lime
1 sachet coconut cream (50g - 2.5 tbsp) or 5 tbsp coconut milk
2/3 cup  basmati rice (150g)
1 medium sized broccoli
2 minute steaks
6-7 tsp creamy peanut butter (52g - 2 pots)
1 tbsp soy sauce (2 sachets - 16ml) 
1.5 tsp brown sugar (or regular if you don't have brown sugar)
Pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil
1 spring onion

Method :

Prep :
Zest the lime taking care not to include any white pith (which is very bitter)

Preheat the grill to high

Boil a kettle

If using coconut cream, place the sachet in a mug of hot water (this softens the naturally hard cream). If using coconut milk, skip this step.
 
Lime Rice :
Choose a pot with a lid - add the rice, lime zest, 350ml hot water and a pinch of salt and bring to the boil over high heat.

Once boiling, reduce the heat to very low and cook, covered, for 10-15 min or until all the water has absorbed

Once done, remove from the heat and keep covered until later
 

Grilled Broccoli :
Cut the broccoli into quarters, lengthways

Cut each quarter again, so you end up with broccoli wedges

Add the wedges to a baking tray (use foil to avoid mess)

Drizzle with vegetable oil and season generously with salt and pepper

Put the tray directly under the grill and cook for 12-15 min or until nicely charred


Seared Steak :
Meanwhile, pat the steaks dry with kitchen towel

Rub them with a little vegetable oil and season generously with salt on both sides

Heat a dry, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick) over a medium-high heat until very hot

Add the steaks to the hot pan and cook for 1 min on each side (for medium-rare)

Transfer the cooked steaks to a plate and leave to rest while you prepare the Peanut Sauce

Peanut Sauce :
Take the pan you used to cook the steaks.

Add the peanut butter, warmed coconut cream / coconut milk, soy sauce and brown sugar with 200ml hot water

Whisk together (off the heat) until smooth

Once smooth, return the pan to a low heat and whisk until a sauce forms (approx. 3-4 min) then remove from the heat and set aside (it will thicken a little as it cools)

Assembly :
Halve the zested lime

Slice the spring onion finely, discarding the root end

Slice the steak as finely as you can (against the grain)

Gousto Tip: Cutting against the grain means identifying the natural lines in the steak and cutting in the opposite direction!

Fluff the cooked rice, add the juice of half the lime and season with salt and pepper

Spoon a pool of peanut sauce on to your plates and top with the sliced steak, serving the lime rice and charred broccoli to the side

Garnish with spring onion and the remaining 1/2 lime cut into wedges

Recipe : Tandoori Salmon with Indian Spiced Salad & Almonds

Tandoori Salmon with Indian Spiced Salad & Almonds is not a dish you would find on a restaurant menu per se, its something I've been fiddling with for awhile and I'm finally really happy with the results, so I'm sharing it with you.

You can make this in small portions as an appetiser (with or without the salad) or turn it into a main course. It does not need any carb on the side, so this works well for anyone on a no-carb / low-carb / keto diet too

Salmon or trout works best for this recipe, the masalas are too strong for delicate fish.

Tandoori Salmon

4 boneless slices of salmon (see picture for reference)

1-2 pinch of salt

2 tbsp lemon juice

2-3 tbsp tandoori masala

red chilli powder to taste (optional, if your tandoori masala isn't spicy enough)

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

4 tbsp yoghurt/thick curd

Method:

Clean fish well and descale.

Coat in lemon juice and salt for at least 15 minutes and throw away all the water that comes out.

Marinate in a mix of tandoori masala, red chilli powder, ginger garlic paste and yoghurt/curd.

Keep in fridge as long as you need. I left it marinating for 3 days I think.

Preheat oven to 220C (200C for fan)

I like to line the pan with foil when making fish, so the fishy smell doesn't remain in the pan - I use the same pan for baking biscuits and scones.

Lightly coat the pan or foil with oil and place the fish skin side down.

You need 4-6 minutes of baking time per half inch thickness of your fish slice on the middle rack.

Keep an eye on it. You don't want it overcooked.

If you keep it on the top rack and turn the grill on for the last few minutes, you will get a nice brownish crust.

Kim's Tip:

If you can't be bothered with turning on the oven, or you don't have an oven, just pan fry it in a little oil.

Salad:

The salad here is a simple mix of rocket, watercress and baby spinach leaves with very thinly sliced onions.

250 gms salad leaves

1/2 medium onion sliced and marinated in a tsp of lemon juice. (while you are getting the other ingredients ready)

Dressing:

The dressing is hazelnut (you can use olive) oil, lemon juice, salt, freshly crushed black pepper and 1-2 drops of balsamic vinegar - because I like the sweetness it gives.

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp freshly crushed black pepper

1-2 drops of balsamic vinegar

You can add chaat masala or black salt to the dressing if you want a stronger Indian flavour in the dressing, but remember to adjust for salt.

Assembly :

Mix the salad leaves and onions in a bowl.

Shake or whip the dressing till it emulsifies and mix into the leaves.

Portion out into individual plates.

Lay the hot salmon on top.

Sprinkle with sliced almonds

This is another version of the same dish, plated in a large bowl rather than individually. the dressing here was an onion raita and I used roasted pine nuts in the garnish

Recipe : Pepper Chicken Stir Fry

This is a light recipe, quick to assemble, once you have the marinated chicken. It barely takes 15 minutes to get to the table once your marinated chicken is at room temperature. I used boneless chicken and this cooks much faster. If you use pieces with bone, you will need to cook it a little longer. You can make it less spicy, by decreasing the pepper powder and the chillies.

Ingredients:
500 gms chicken (boneless better)
1-2 tbsp pepper powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1-2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2-3 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp olive oil (or any healthy oil)
1 tbsp fennel seeds / saunf (optional - its good for digestion and iron content)
5-10 cloves garlic chopped
1 large onion chopped
4 green chillies chopped
2 - 3 red or yellow capsicums/ bell peppers in bite sized pieces
100 gms baby corn chopped same size as capsicum
natural vinegar / lime juice to taste

Method:
Clean and chop the chicken to bite sized pieces.
Marinate chicken in a paste of pepper powder, chilli powder, ginger garlic paste and soya sauce for an hour or longer. (if longer, then marinate it in the fridge)

When ready to cook, bring the chicken back to room temperature (otherwise you will have hard, stringy chicken)
In a pan, heat the oil, add the fennel seeds.
When the fennel seeds splutter, add garlic and brown lightly.
Then add the onions and cook it to your required level of doneness (we preferred a bit of crunch in our onions, but you can even caramelise them completely.
Add the chicken and stir fry on high heat.
When half cooked, add the green chillies.
When chicken is almost cooked, add the baby corn and capsicums and give one good toss in the pan, so it all reaches a good temperature, before turning off.
Add some vinegar or lemon juice to your taste, give a good stir and serve hot.

You do not need to add salt in this dish, as the soya sauce will provide the saltiness.

Kim's Tips:

We eat this dish as an entire meal, on the days that we are avoiding carbs. But you can serve it with noodles or fried rice.

You can experiment with other vegetables too - broccoli, green beans, carrots etc.

Recipe : Stovetop Chicken and Mushrooms (Bonus : Sausage Pulao from leftovers)

I marinated the chicken for this dish, the night before and cooked it for lunch the following day. I used a lot of ingredients I had lying around like the pickled peppers and Kolahs sugarcane vinegar, you can substitute with fresh black pepper and any Italian herbs of your choice. The marinade is quite yummy, so you can even pop the marinated chicken on the grill/BBQ if you want a drier dish and omit the mushrooms.

I used skinless chicken, so it was very low in fat too.

Ingredients:
1 kg chicken
1 packet (400gms) button mushrooms (washed and sliced in half)
a few grams of sliced dried Shitake mushrooms (optional)
a few grams of dried oyster mushrooms (optional)

Marinade:
10 garlic cloves
3-4 strands of pickled green peppers (or 1 tsp black pepper)
a pinch of oregano
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp Kolah's sugarcane vinegar (substitute with balsamic vinegar to taste)
salt to taste

Method:
Roughly pound the garlic cloves and the pepper.
Add the herbs of choice and roughly pound a bit more.
Remove the strands holding the green peppers together, if you like, I removed them after cooking.
Add olive oil, salt and vinegar and mix well.

Marinate the chicken in this marinade for a couple of hours or overnight.

Take a large pan, pour out a bit of oil from the marinated chicken onto the pan.
Brown the chicken on both sides.

Then add the remaining marinade to the pan.
Now add whichever dried mushrooms you are using (if any) and cover the chicken with a tight lid.
Since you haven't re-hydrated the mushrooms, make sure they are sitting in some of the liquid marinade when you close the pan. (I find this gives much stronger flavours than rehydrating the mushrooms and then adding them to the pan)

After, the chicken is half cooked, add the fresh mushrooms.

(I initially don't let the mushrooms touch the pan surface directly, instead they steam on top of the chicken pieces, only when the chicken is cooked do I give it a stir and let the mushrooms come in contact with the pan.)

Cover and cook till done.
Once cooked, open the lid and serve immediately if you like some gravy, else cook without a cover until it thickens / dries up to your choice.

Serve hot with foccacia or on its own.

Bonus Recipe with Leftovers:

When we were done with the chicken, there was some oil left in the pan and it had great flavour, that I didn't want to wash out. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you can try this recipe.

Add a piece of cinnamon to the hot oil, then add a bit of chopped garlic and onions and fry till browned.
Add some sliced sausages and saute till cooked.
Now add the cooked rice (I used brown rice), salt and some green peas.
Saute until peas are cooked and serve hot.

Chorizo and Shammi Kebabs

I picked up a lovely assortment of goodies from Godrej Nature's Basket (GNB) the other day and wanted to try some out on Sunday, which is a lazy day in the kitchen :)

I had picked up some ready-to-fry shammi kebabs. Shammi Kebabs are really soft ,well minced kebabs that can melt in your mouth if made right. These were delicate and ready to fall apart in my hands and I tried to gently ease them into a shallow frying pan.

The frothing, is from the egg content in the kebabs, nothing to worry about.

(You can try this recipe for Shimapuri Kebabs).

I would ideally serve these delicate kebabs on mini rotis. I've tasted it in a couple of places on mini 'Ulthe Tawa ke Parathe' which is a gorgeous combination. But I was in no mood to knead out dough, and make mini rotis for just myself. But,  I still needed a base to pick up these kebabs without having to resort to a spoon.

I  remembered the Chorizo slices that I had picked up from GNB. Now a roti would lend a sweetish taste, but this chorizo was tart and spicy.

 

They did come together beautifully on a plate, with colors playing off each other. I warmed the chorizo for 5 seconds in the microwave to get the fats to break up just a little bit and then plated the kebabs on top of the slices (not very neatly, but I was making it for myself and the aromas were forcing me to rush it a bit, so I could eat while it was still at the right temperature)

The taste together was not the best of combinations, because the shammis were melt-in-the mouth soft with crisp skins and the chorizo had that bit of a chew needed. The kebabs were very lightly flavored, but the chorizo was quite strong (sour and spicy) and hence overpowered the taste of the kebabs.

Each item tasted great separately, so I ended up using the chorizo slices as scoops to get the kebab into my mouth in one piece and then I ate all the slices up after I was done with the kebabs. I will have to make the mini rotis/parathas next time.

The chorizo was very good as an appetiser as it truly stimulated the taste buds.

I do love this store and will keep going back for more.