Method

1. Mix all the ingredients after boiling and chopping the vegetables as above.
2. Bind the mixture and correct the seasoning.
3. Put them on skewers and chargrill.
4. Apply melted butter, sprinkle with chat masala and serve hot.

Method

1. Peel and scoop out the baking potato soak in water.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds .Fry until the seeds crackle. Add the rest of ingredients for stuffing. Sauté for 3-4 minutes. Cool the stuffing.
3. Fry the scooped potato in hot oil.
4. Fill the stuffing in the potatoes after frying them.
5. 5 Prepare the marinade by mixing all the ingredients until smooth. Apply on the outside of potatoes. Cool for 1 hour.
6. 6 Chargrill on a skewer. Cut in half, brush with butter and serve.

Method

1. Cut vegetables as follows: Finely chop the carrots, mash the peas, finely chop beans, and grate potatoes. Mix the vegetables together.
2. Add all other ingredients. Bind the ingredients together.
3. Serve three Ticks per person.
4. 1 Fry in hot oil just prior to serving. Sprinkle with chat masala and serve.

Method

1. Prepare stock with chicken bones, water, onions, carrots, bayleafs, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon. Strain and reserve the liquid.
2. Melt the butter, add flour and fry gently. Whisk into the stock taking precaution not to form lumps.
3. Cook the soup for 30 minutes. Strain.
4. To serve: check the seasoning; add blanched diced carrots and beans. Add cream.

We all know dhal (or lentils) – how could one not?

Anyone born in an Asian family has been brought up on dhal from the moment they become infants and the taste of dhal remains with you for the rest of your life!
Of course, there are all kinds of dhal and there are also different ways of making a dish of dhal.
So try this recipe first and get used to the pleasures of a lovely and comforting staple.

Dhal Shorba

Method

1. Wash and cook dhal in water and salt until tender.
2. Heat butter and oil in a pan, add onions. Sauté until light brown. Add spices. Add tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add the dhal to the masala and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Puree the mixture.
5. Add lemon juice and cream prior to serving.

You may have seen in my last blog that I gave you the recipe for steamed rice. It’s a staple that personifies simplicity and the perfect partnership to a lovely curry.

I thought we’d go one step further this time and give you a pulao, but not any old pulao! One that combines the punch and partnership of rice, peas and cumin.

It’s the kind of dish that could easily work well as a delicious treat for yourself or for that special occasion when you have your family around or even friends over for dinner.

My, what a feast you’ll have!

Matar Zeera Pulao

Method

1. Wash and soak Basmati rice.
2. Heat oil / butter.
3. Add cumin seeds and cook until they crackle.
4. Add peas and sauté for a few minutes.
5. Add 5 litres of water and salt.
6. Add Basmati and cook until water is absorbed.
7. Cover the pot and serve.

Carrying on my theme of the staples of Indian cooking, where would we be without rice as the accompanying staple to a nice curry dish?

There’s nothing quite like Basmati steamed rice – no other type of rice will quite do the trick – quick and easy to cook– you’ll be hooked!

Just follow the method below.

Steamed Basmati

Method

1. Wash thoroughly until water runs clear and soak rice for 30 minutes.
2. Boil water with salt.
3. Add rice and cook till soft.
4. Strain excess water and serve.

As I said the other day, if you don’t get the fundamentals correct in Indian cooking – or for that matter in any cooking - you are building a house of cards that’s ready to tumble!

Onion masala and the tomato gravy which I gave in my last blog are paramount to Indian curry dishes, but then – depending on the type of dish you are making – so is white gravy.

It can be used to make pasanda dishes, kormas and a whole variety of other items.

So take a gander at the recipe below and get cooking!

White Gravy

Method

1. Boil the cashew nuts till completely cooked.
2. In a separate pan heat oil and butter, then add whole cardamom. Then add the ginger garlic paste and cook till it is golden brown.
3. Add the salt, sugar, red chilli powder , cardamom powder ,white pepper powder and tomato puree to the above mixture.
4. Cook on slow heat until all the spices are blended in.
5. Add the yoghurt and fried onions to the cashew nuts and cook for 10 minutes, then blend to a fine paste.
6. Add the spice mixture made earlier to the cashew nut paste and mix through.

Any curry dish has to have a basis for a sauce. You don’t have the basis, a foundation or anything that gives the dish a definition and what it’s meant to be, you don’t have anything.

People who love Indian cooking but may be new to it, yet want to cook it and enjoy the cuisine should grasp the very principles first and then move on to more complex dishes.

Not that I want to preach to anyone! But hey, everyone loves Indian food and I get so many people asking me what they should be doing and how they should make a sauce or whatever it is, that I thought it would be a good idea to start from the bottom and go upwards in simple, easy-to-follow steps of cooking an Indian meal.

So folks, for my various upcoming blogs, I’m going to concentrate on various recipes – check out the ones below on how to make an onion masala and a tomato gravy – so that you can just follow them and cook yourself and your family and friends Indian cooking the authentic way!

Onion Masala

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped onions and zeera, cook until brown and tender.
2. Add ginger and garlic paste and stir.
3. Add all the spices, tomatoes and tomato paste.
4. Cook for around 10 minutes until the oil separates. Remove from Pan and use as required in recipes.
5. Cook for 30 minutes and leave to cool.

Tomato Gravy

Method

1. Wash and clean tomatoes and cook over the fire with green chillies until tomatoes are soft. Puree the tomatoes and strain.
2. In another pan heat oil, add ginger garlic, all the remaining spices. Add tomato paste.
3. Add puree of tomatoes, add butter. Cook until the sauce is thick and oil starts to float on the top. Remove from fire and use as desired.

Being a bit of a movie buff, I made a point of watching the recent Oscars.

OK, so they don’t show them on terrestrial TV here, but a good friend had passed on a recording to me of the whole extravaganza and boy oh boy, the Americans love to put on a good show. All that pizzaz and razzmatazz – it’s so infectious though I can see why some people would either love it or hate it – and I love it!

Yes, we all know that Avatar, which as you may know from my previous blogs, I was so blown away by, didn’t exactly win a glut of Oscars, despite being up for nine if I recall. Still, it got all the technical ones and that’s what matters. What a cracker!

It’s an unstoppable juggernaut of a blockbusting flick and after all these months still raking it in.

I guess one of the good things about watching such a long and wonderful show as the Oscars – that’s aside from all the entertainment and the glitz, is that I like to have a whole load of snacks at my fingertips.

And you know what? They don’t even have to be bought in ones either – - depending on what you are munching on, those can be so full of fat and oil. I love to make them at home because they are so much more delicious, homely and I can make as much as I want and save them for later too.

But just to keep you in suspense – I’m not going to tell you just yet what I made.

I want to hear from you about what you think a good snack is. Everyone has their own definition of a “snack” of course – for some it can just be some popcorn or a packet of crisps, a bar of chocolate or for others a big, heart-pounding, door-stopper of a gargantuan sandwich!

The ones I made were delicious, finger-lickin’ Indian-style ones.

So before I tell you in my next blog what I prepared – tell me what snacks you like to eat and why?