Mummy, Look! The milk is tearing apart!

It was a Sunday and late in the morning. Rini, a little girl of love her Sunday mornings, because a) on Sunday mornings she can get up late, b) after getting up she can take out her heap of storybooks and magazines, she can look at them one by one, read some of them or solve some puzzles given in them while lying on her belly on the small carpet laid in their living room. Her mummy and daddy also feel very happy on Sunday morning, no office, no school, no shopping and no hurry. They read the newspaper, Sunday editions or magazines, drink tea and eat breakfast, chat and laugh.

Along with this, Sunday morning brings another attraction for Rini. On Sundays, Rini and her parents   cook together after having a late. Rini does not remember from when, but it has almost become a ritual now, that the Sunday afternoon meals are cooked by all of them together. Rini finds it very exciting as she can see many magic happening while they cook, her mummy calls it ‘food science’. She eagerly waits for this fun time for the whole week.

When the summer meets the winter

While coming home from work on Friday evening, the evening which is my favourite of all others, as it is a bridge between work full weekdays and the household work full weekends (for any Indian living outside India will know). Therefore friday evening is the only time when I feel happy, free and workless.

This evening though I was wanting to work or more precisely to cook  and that was to mix summer with the winter. 

Yes, in India the summer and winter vegetables are very different and as a child when cold storages and imports from all over the world where not norms our vegetable dishes as well as staple and non vegetarian dishes were distinctly different in summer and winter. 

Hot summer was time for cold watery produces like different kinds of guards (bottle, bitter), okra, pumpkin, drumsticks, aubergine, plantain, squash, raw papaya, Saag (Hindi/bengali for several leafy vegetables other than spinach) and so on. Non vegetarian dishes were mostly fishes. Chicken and goat meat came on the table mostly once a week. Fruits where mainly mangoes (of different colour, creeds and tastes), melons (again different colour and types), banana, papaya. 

Winter was time of all the bileti (Bengali for foreign) vegetables introduced to India by Portuguese or British during long colonial exposure of India. They where cauliflower, cabbages, radish, carrots, french beans, capsicum, spinach, tomatoes, potatoes, chillies (can you imagine chilli is not our own!) and many others. Indian population who were vegetarian by vast majority immediately accepted these new vegetables, started growing them in Indian soil,  deep stirred, deep fried and curried them in several combinations, these treatment made them distinct from their boiled and poached forms like the Portuguese or British people were used to eat. Fruits in winter where mainly oranges (they were though brought by Persians perhaps or may be the originals from India), pomegranate and grapefruits. It was a fun sitting under the sun in winter holiday afternoons reading a magazine or a story book and eating oranges neatly the segments separated in a plate, with little salt and pepper sprinkled over it.  Chicken, goat, lamb and wild, hunted meats (games) were common in these months for non vegetarians. Fishes used to take a back seat in this season.

In between two separate seasons of vegetables, two times a year there used to be a medley of produces.  In the spring, when winter was going and summer was coming, so the winter vegetables would say good bye shortly after they meet with their summer cousins. The reverse would happen in the autumn.   Spring and autumn also coincided with many festive occasions of the year. In these two times generations of our grand mother and their mothers took the golden opportunity of mixing the summer and winter together and carved out several dishes consisting of mixed vegetables, the choice of vegetables depending on the family preferences and availability. There were a genre of mixed vegetables created, some times along with Paneer/chana  (Hindi/Bengali for home made fresh cheese) or Bada (Bengali for fried balls made from soaked lentils). Later when Soybean was introduced in Indian diets, chunks of Soybean fibres also got entry in mixed vegetable team.

Now it is difficult to see these pattern, almost every fruit and vegetables (cold storage or imported) are available all the time so we are free to mix summer with winter through out the year. 

I took the chance this friday and took out the vegetables available in the freeze or freezer, added potato and onion. Cut them in squares and stripes. 

Then I went to check which spices I will be using, and combined them together. Panch phoron a Bengali 5 spices (whole ones) and bay leaves were inviting me, along with normal cumin powder, ginger powder, coriander powder I add in almost whatever I cook. Then I had to use few slitted green chilli peppers.

In the freezer a packet of tiger prawns was waiting to be used. So I thought why not? Bengalis are master in mixing fish with vegetables, mainly prawns or some parts of big fishes. These dishes are very popular local cuisines and has been taken by the diaspora to far away lands like Europe and USA! Some examples are lau chingri  (prawns wit bottle guard) or kumro chingri (prawns with yellow pumpkin or butternut squash) or even more exotic is enchor -chingri (prawns with green jack fruit). There are several other such dishes with leafy vegetables, potato and other vegetables.  One friend of ours has gone further and patented on a nice combination of cauliflower and prawns. Which I also cook a lot specially while friends are invited. So I decided to use the prawns in my mixed vegetable medley. Deveined and cleaned they already were. I readied them by sprinkling some salt and turmeric powder on.

So after all the arrangements, I heated a wok, added oil, added the panch phoron (five spices), bay leaves and slitted green chilli peppers. Sauteed a little and then added the vegetables along with the chopped onions, only the tomatoes were kept aside. Let them time to be soft, take colour and mingle with each other. On the way as my hands were still itching so I added some pav-bhaji masala powder (just like famous garam masala, it is yet another blend of Indian grounded spices in particular proportion, but are also available readymade in Indian/Asian stores or even from Amazon from companies like Badshah, Shan, MDH etc). Kept stirring till oil starts coming off, added the prawns and finally I added the chopped tomatoes.

After little more stirring, added some ( half a cup or so) water, covered the wok while turning the heat to low.
In between I saw outside was still bright and my "Friday-free" mind cajoled me to take some shots of uncontrollable wild growing in my backyard.

After 10-15 minutes, opening the cover filled the kitchen with soft aroma of all vegetables along with the salty smell of prawn. Boiled plain rice was ready in the microwave. 

So I and 'J' had a delicious dinner of mixed vegetable-prawn medley, rice, and some masoor Dal , sizzled with fresh coriander leaves (Hindi for red lentil soup). My picky eater 'J' liked the medley for the prawns and not so strong flavour left of any greens used here. She when licked her finger saying yum, I added "Absolutely perfect for a Friday evening"!

If you are longing for more, here are some links for other mixed vegetable recipes for your hungry mind which are cooked in different parts of India:

Labra: A festive combination of vegetables and spices  (from Bengal or eastern India)

Navratan korma (Kashmir and other northern part of India)

Avial (from southern India)

Pav-bhaji (Mainly from Bombay or western India)

Vegetable Jhalfrezi (Anglo-Indian dish)

Vegetable Korma (Indo-Persian and now a british favourite)

Enjoy your meal! Bon appetite

Chicken Korma (British Style)

"Chicken korma" is among the most popular Indian recipe you can find in UK, undoubtedly because of its mild but rich flavour. Recently I invited some of my colleagues and tried this recipe. This is a mixed blend of ideas taken from different websites and my own. It came out well specially with Pea pulao, Naan breads and Raita.

Ingredients:

Chicken breast or mini breast fillets 1 kg
Bay leaves 1-2
Ginger 2 Table spoon, finely grated
Garlic 3-4 cloves, crushed
Thick (plain) yogurt 150g
dried red/green chili (optional) 1-2 (sliced)
onions 2, finely chopped
Sunflower Oil 4-6 Tablespoon
Coriander powder 1/2 Table spoon
Black pepper pinch (ground)
Turmeric 1 Table spoon
Garam masala 1/2 Table spoon
Water 1 Cup
Creamed coconut 7-10 Table spoons
Salt according to your taste
Almonds 2 table spoons (ground)
Coriander Leaves (to garnish /optional) Half Bunch (finely chopped)
Lemon juice 2 Table spoon

1. Cut the chicken breasts into Small cubes, wash and drain water .
2. Mix the chicken with the ginger, garlic and yogurt and little salt. Cover and marinade for 4-8 hours or in the fridge overnight.
3. Make a paste of the 1 and ½ chopped onion and red/green chilies, add a little water if you need to, blend till smooth.
4. Heat the oil in a pan.
5. When the oil is warm add bay leaves and the sliced onions. After the onions are transparent add the onion and/or chili paste and stir fry for few minutes.
6. Add the ground coriander, ground black pepper, turmeric and garam masala and stir fry for few minute over a low heat.
7. Add the chicken and the marinade and continue to stir fry for till the chicken gets slight brown and oil starts coming out.
8. Add the creamed coconut and enough water to cover the chicken and bring to the boil, stirring until the coconut is dissolved. Stir in the ground almonds.
9. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is tender (30-40 minutes).
10. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and salt to taste. Mix well.
Garnish with Coriander if you want

This dish goes very well with Pea pulao, Naan bread or steamed rice.

Indo-British cuisine

In Scotland, Indian (more generally South Asian) cuisine has taken an independent identity. Tandoori, Korma, Balti, Jalfrezi, Rogenjosh, Vindaloo, Tikka and Bhuna are famous non vegetarian flavours, available as curry pastes in bottled forms (Pataks, Sherwood are more common brands among many others) in almost all the supermarkets. Vegetarian dishes includes ingredients for Saag Aloo, Chole or Lentil soup. Sometimes fuly prepared tinned version of these food items are also available. I have noticed local people buying Naan bread, a curry mix bottle, Poppadoms and basmati rice for their weekly shopping. Different kinds of pakoras more famously known as "bhajjis" and samosas are available everywhere. Pickles from Mango or mixed vegetable and chutneys from tomato or tamarind are well known and well eaten. Indian restaurants are in plenty here. After travelling a bit towards north of Scotland and also south of England I must say that the scenario is same all over UK. I being an Indian myself find it quite overwhelming seeing so much effect of South Asian cuisine on the people here who are living in a completely different climate and geography. A strong impact of then colonism and now globalisation though.