Health benefit of Potato…

I was invited for Sunday lunch, in a typical Bengali family. The couple are working in a hospital as Dietician and a Nutritionist. As usual, they have served various vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. I liked the Mutton Curry or ‘panthar jhol’ the most. It is not very spicy, not very salty or not very watery. Everything was so perfect that I can visit their house only for this. They put large size of potato in it, as well as in the Chicken Biryani. When enquired, they told me that it is the authentic style of Bengal, to put large pieces of Potato in the curry or Biryani. And it was really a tasty affair.

They also told me that, though many of us avoid potato because of the belief that it would help to gain weight; but potato is one of the healthiest foods.

Let us have a look in this.

• Potato is rich with IRON, CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM and ZINC. These helps to make your teeth and bones healthier.
• Potato is also rich with POTASSIUM; CALCIUM and MAGNESIUM. These minerals help to control high blood pressure.
• Vitamin B-6 and Vitamin C, helps to control cholesterol, and as these vitamins are available in Potato Fibre, they helps maintain a healthy heart as well.
• Potato has the COLLIN which helps to maintain the cell structure, and thus helps in pain.
• Potato is also rich in antioxidant and FOLATE. FOLATE helps to DNA restructuring, and both if these helps to prevent cancer.
• Potato is rich with fibre, which helps to increase metabolism, and thus helps in constipation and also help to control weight.
• With the help of Vitamin C and Collagen available in potato, it helps our skin from pollution, dust and dirt. Also, potato helps to produce Collagen in our body which prevents the wrinkles in our body.

 

After listening to all of these benefits, I have decided to include potato in my daily diet.

Mouthwatering ‘LAAL MAAS’ authentic Jaipur Style

In Vadodara, one of our favorite dishes is ‘LAAL MAAS’; or in short RED MUTTON CURRY prepared in an authentic Rajasthan Style. One of the restaurants in Vadodara, ‘Khama Ghani’ introduced the dish in here.  The very first time when we tasted it, we loved it. After that we have tried the dish numerous times in the same restaurant; but the quality keeps getting worse. One day, I asked them about the reason. The manager told me that, if we want to get the original flavour, we have to ask them before ordering. Then they will start preparing it in the authentic way as it is a very HOT and SPICY dish; and people from Vadodara are not able to ‘digest’ it properly. So, we thought, forget about the dish, and let’s prepare the same at home. Then last weekend, on 23^rd November 2014, we tried it at home and it was simply great.

We haven’t tasted LAAL MAAS in Jaipur or in Rajasthan, so we cannot compare it, but the result was great. We have tried different sources to get the authentic recipe, from books, from internet and from friends. And then we improvised it a little bit, because we were not able to get one main ingredient. Here is the cooking procedure.

What we need:

To prepare the Laal Maas, go the market and buy 500 grams of Mutton; cut into medium pieces; if you can manage to get it from a baby goat, it would be great as the meat will be very tender and it will change the taste of the dish as well.

Next, you need 150 grams of plain curd; 4 large size onions; 1 teaspoon of Turmeric powder; 5-8 pieces of Garlic; similar quantity of Ginger strings; 2 pieces of Bay Leaves; 2 pieces of Black Cardamom; 2 pieces of Green Cardamom; 1 medium piece of Cinnamon; 3-4 pieces of Clove; 1 medium size Mace; 100 grams of Ghee or Clarified Butter; 1 teaspoon of Kachri Powder (Kachri is a wild variety of cucumbers; it helps to make the meat tender); 4 teaspoon of Degi Mirch Powder; 4 teaspoon of Kashmiri Chili Powder; 3 teaspoon of Red Chili powder and 15-25 whole red chilies (depending upon your taste; this is a very ‘HOT’ dish so you need them); 1 teaspoon of Garam Masala Powder; 1 teaspoon of Clove Powder; Salt as required and water.

How to prepare:

Make paste of all the whole chilies and keep it aside.

Make thin slices of all the 4 onions;

Cut the Ginger Strings and Garlic in small pieces; (Note: You can prepare Ginger Garlic paste as well; but in my opinion, if you will use small pieces of Ginger and Garlic, that will give a better effect in taste).

Blend the curd in a mixer or using a hand blender for 30 seconds atleast.

Now take a deep pan (it should come with a lid) and pour atleast 3/4^th of the ghee and switch on the burner in medium flame. Now add bay leaves; black and green cardamom; cloves and cinnamon. Crush the mace in small pieces and add it as well. Sauté all the whole spices for another 1-2 minutes. Now add onion slices and ginger and garlic as well. Sauté all the ingredients till the onion slices turn into golden brown color.

Add mutton, turmeric powder and salt in it and mix it well with all the whole spices and cook in the medium flame for another 12-15 minutes. You can see juices from mutton are coming out. When most of the juices came out from the mutton and the mutton is cooked well, add curd in it. Add red chili paste; degi mirch powder; red chilly powder and Kashmiri chilli powder in it. Add Kachri powder. Mix it very well and cook the entire mixture in low flame until no watery part left. Add 2-3 cups of hot water clove powder and garam masala powder and close the pan with the lid and cook it for another 15-25 minutes. (Note: here you can add ‘KHAS KA PANI’. To prepare, take 4 tablespoon of poppy seeds and soak it in water for 5-6 hours. This will give great flavour to the Laal Maas).

After 15-25 minutes, switch- off the burner and open the lid. In another pan, pour the rest of the ghee, add 3-4 whole red chilies and 1 teaspoon of red chili powder and sauté it for 1 minute in low flame. Add this on the prepared Laal Maas and mix it well.

Your Laal Maas is ready to serve and eat.

Accompany:

Laal Maas will taste best if you are taking it with Bajre ka Roti or Naan. You can also eat it with plane white rice as well.  You can prepare it using Chicken as well.

Note: we haven’t used any Cumin powder or Coriander powder. Also, one can eat it in a dry form as well. For that, you do not need to add water at all. The mutton will be prepared from its own juice and curd.

Tandoori Chicken…….

Tandoori Chicken is one of the most delicate chicken preparation that one can prepare easily and its taste so good that you can lick your finger long after the finishing of the dish. It is quite easy to prepare at home and it can be eaten with bread, roti, paratha, naan, liquor etc. It is a dry dish and whole Chicken Leg pieces are served as the final dish along with some salads. But before start preparing the tandoori chicken, let’s understand its origin.

Mr. Kundan Lal Gujaral was running a restaurant in the 1920s in Peshwar, Pakistan. The name of the restaurant was Moti Mahal. During the India partition in 1947, he fled to Delhi and started his restaurant at Daryaganj, Delhi and to attract more customer he experimented with chicken. Initially Naan were prepared in a TANDOOR, which is a CYLINDRICAL CLAY OVEN

used mainly for baking. Experimenting with new and interesting food preparations, Gujral decided to try cooking chicken in the tandoors–clay ovens–used by local villagers to cook bread.

The earthenware ovens were bell-shaped and set into the earth and fired with wood or charcoal. They could reach temperatures of about 900 degrees. Using young chickens, Gujral was able to cook them in the high-heat ovens so that the inside was just done and the outside crisped.  India’s First Prime Minister Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru was very impressed with this dish and made it a regular at official banquets. Foreign dignitaries that enjoyed Tandoori Chicken included American Presidents Richard Nixon and John Kennedy, Soviet leaders Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev, the King of Nepal, and the Shah of Iran. The relationship between the restaurant and the leaders of India lasted through several generations of Prime Ministers. Later Tandoori Chicken became famous across the world and today it is a very popular chicken dish.

How to prepare for a group of four people: 

To prepare this delicacy, you may use the Electric Tandoor or  Microwave or Barbecue system or Charcoal Grill at your home. I prefer to cook it in microwave. The only downside is that you need atleast 2 hours for the main preparation. The main specialty of Tandoori Chicken is that, the piece has to be crispy from the outside and tender and soft from the inside. And to make this possible you need lot of patience.

Ok, as we are all set to start the journey, let’s go to the market and take Chicken Leg Piece and the part should be made from the upper thigh portion.

One leg piece is enough for one person. So for four people, you may need four pieces. If you are taking meat from the local vendor, then give him instructions beforehand or else he may separate the upper thigh portion and the lower log part of the chicken. Now back at home and wash the leg pieces very well. Now take a knife and make deep cut in the upper part where there is more meat and make at least four cuts on all the side of the leg pieces. Marinate the same with a tablespoon of salt, a tablespoon of red chilly powder and with half tea spoon of turmeric powder and put it aside.

Let’s start with the second part of the preparation. We will prepare the main mixture in here. Here you can use the Tandoori Masala or Spices from the market or you can prepare your own mixture at home. I prefer to make everything at home. So if you are ready, then read and follow. You need 6 tablespoon of plain YOGURT (popularly known as CURD in INDIA) , 2 tablespoon of red chilly powder,  2 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, half tablespoon of cardamom dust/powder, one tablespoon of garlic paste and one tablespoon of ginger paste. You also need some red food color to give the Tandoori Chicken the proper look and texture. This food color is easily available in any of the big retail store. Put all of them together in a Mixer and prepare a fine paste. Now apply this paste on your chicken leg piece properly and also ensure that the portions where you made the deep cut, is properly marinated. Now you are ready for the final battle, but the planning stage is not yet over. You have to put this marinated chicken leg pieces in the refrigerator for atleast 8 hours so that the marination can go deep inside the chicken properly.

For the paste, if you are using the Tandoori Chicken Masala, then use the half amount of it and also prepare the paste as mentioned above and apply the entire mixture on your chicken. If you are using ONLY the ready made masala, then it may ruin the taste of the final dish.

As preparing the tandoori chicken is time taking it is best to prepare the marinated chicken the night before so that you can work on the final stage i.e. grilling and baking on next day. The more time you will put it in the refrigerator, the better will be the taste of the final dish.

After 8-10 hours, take out the marinated chicken leg pieces from the refrigerator. Take your microwave  grill rack

and put some butter or vegetable oil on every single part of the grill rack. Now place the leg pieces over the grill rack and also take a BRUSH and apply vegetable oil or butter and some fresh lime juice over the leg pieces. Switch on the microwave and set it in GRILL mode. Cook it for 5 minutes and then switch it off. Take out the grill rack and turn the chicken on the other side and again apply the oil/butter/lemon juice and cook it for another 5 minutes. Repeat the same process for another 5 times. Now you can see the beautiful black-red crunchy and crispy outer layer of the chicken leg pieces and from the smell you can feel that the Tandoori Chicken is ready. Serve it hot along with some onion ring, cucumber, green chillie and freshly cut lime wedges.

When you will start eating the tandoori chicken you can feel the crunchy and crispy outer crust and juicy inner part of the chicken. This is one of the best chicken preparation that you can consume almost anytime, as a snack, as a dinner or lunch.

 

Chicken Biriyani

One of the most famous dishes inIndiais Chicken Biriyani. It has great taste and aroma that helps to increase the appetite. The smell of Chicken Biriyani makes one drool over it. Originally it is a dish that came fromPersia. On the earlier days when Persian traders went to different countries they also came along with their Biriyani and this way Northern Part of India got its taste. Today Biriyani can be found all across the globe and in different part of the world it was cooked differently. But to get the most exotic, authentic Biriyani one should visitLucknow,Indiato get the exotic, mysterious taste of Biriyani.

During 1800 to 1900,Lucknowwas known as Awadh, giving rise to Awadhi Biriyani. In 1856, British deposed Nawab Wajid Ali Shah inCalcutta, giving rise to Calcutta Biryani. Last Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb put Nizam-ul-mulk as the ruler ofHyderabad, as well as a ‘Nawab of Arcot’ to oversee Aaru Kaadu region (Six Forrests) south ofHyderabad. These moves gave rise to Hyderabadi Biryani and Arcot Biryani. The Biryani spread toMysoreby Tipu Sultan of Carnatic. Needless to say it was a royal dish for Nawabs and Nizams.

Biryani is derived from the Farsi word ‘Birian’ which means ‘fried before cooking’. In the olden days, rice was fried (without washing) in Ghee (Clarified butter). It did two things:

1. It gave the rice a nutty flavor

2. It burned the outside starch layer gelatinizing it. After the rice is stir-fried, it was boiled in water with spices till half cooked.

In an earthen pot called Handi, the rice and meat are layered; bottom and top layer are always rice. An interlayer of some condiments may be introduced between the meat and the rice. Cardamom, Mace, Screwpine essence, rose water may be added to give flowery and herbal aroma. The Handi is sealed and put on the coal embers to cook. For Calicut Biryani, the Handi is placed on the embers produced by coconut shell. The seal is broken only when ready to serve.

Besides the above history, there are other few stories revolving Biriyani is also available:

Timor, the lame brought it down fromKazakhstanviaAfghanistantoNorthern India. According to another legend, Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan concocted this dish as a “complete meal” to feed the army. Yet, some say the dish really originated inWest Asia. The Nomads would burry an earthen pot full of meat, rice and spices in a pit, eventually the pot was dug up and there was the Biryani.

I am not a chef or a professional cook at all, and I don’t have much experience with Biriyani from different part of the world. So I cannot say that I am an expert in this. My preparation of Biriyani is a mix of North Indian Biriyani and Kolkata’s Biriyani. I have tasted Hyderabadi Biriyani, Mumbai Biriyani, Thai Biriyani, Shrimp Biriyani, Nawabi Biriyani and Awadhi Biriyani. For me the best taste of Biriyani that one can get in Kolkata andLucknow.

So let’s start with the preparation of Chicken Biriyani. This preparation is for four adults. There are three parts in it:

First: Preparation of the RICE

Second: Preparation of the MEAT

Third: Final stage of MIXING & SERVING

 

Preparation of the Rice:

Go to the local grocery store and get Long Grain Basmati Rice. Personally I prefer DAWAT and LALMAHAL. First soak around 300 gm of BASMATI RICE in water for overnight or twelve hours and cover it with clean white fine cloth. Next day drain the excess water from the rice by spreading it over the cloth. Wow, great. Can you see the grains have become longer? This is going to be a great Chicken Biriyani.

Now put some GHEE in a pan and when it is heated perfectly put the rice on it and stir it for 3-5 minutes in medium flame. You can use AMUL BUTTER as well, but local GHEE will give it best flavor. When you see few brownish grains mixed with white grains, then reduce the flame and get the rice in a separate bowl. Next on the same pan, add some more ghee and put 2 cloves, 1″ cinnamon, 2 cardamom, 2 bay leaves, and some salt to taste and put the gas on medium flame. It is always better to crush the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom so that you will get the perfect blend of taste and flavor. When you will get the ‘GOOD’ smell of the ingredients, put the fried rice in it and mix it with all the other ingredients properly for 1-2 minutes in low flame. Next you need some water. Add some water in it and close the lid and cook for few more minutes.

TIPS: Use small quantity of water, so that entire water is used to boil the rice and there is no water left after you are done with cooking of the rice. This is very important.

After 5-6 minutes take a small spoon and take out some rice from the bowl and feel it. If it is half cooked, congratulate yourself as now you are ready for the next step. Next spread the rice over a flat surface so that it can be cooled. Please ensure that the rice is HALF COOKED. OVER COOKING/BOILING of the rice will ruin the experience. After the rice comes in room temperature, drop a handful of rice on a hard floor. No two grains of rice should be stuck to each other.

 

Preparation of the MEAT:

You can have either Mutton or Chicken Biriyani. Here I am presenting the Chicken Biriyani. You should have 800 gms-1000 gms of chicken with you cut into 8 pieces. Each serving should have one leg piece and one piece from the chicken breast. Take 100 gms of curd, 1 teaspoon of ginger paste, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic paste, 4-5 green chilies, 1 teaspoon of red chilly powder, and 3 medium sized chopped onions. Put some white oil in the pan and fry the chopped onion first. When it gets brown texture, put half portion of it aside for garnishing. Put the other half portion of friend onion and all the other ingredients in a mixer grinder and paste all of them together well. You can also put the raw chopped onion in the mixer grinder but this left some pungent smell and many do not prefer to have this smell. So it is better to first fry the chopped onion and use it. After getting the paste, marinade the chicken pieces well and add some salt to it. Now put the mixture in the refrigerator for one-two hours.

Now you are free for next few hours. Go and have some fun, chat with friends, check facebook, watch TV or play with kids or read a book. Have some rest, because next 60 – 90 minutes will be a very tiring one. But you will also get a great Biriyani as a reward!

TIPS: it is always best to put the marinade chicken for maximum time, as this way all the spices will go inside of the chicken and when cooked, you will get a very well prepared chicken I your Biriyani.

Now put some Ghee in the pan and put 2 cloves, 1″ cinnamon, 2 cardamom in it. Next when the ingredients are heated, put the marinated chicken in the pan and cook it for 10-15 minutes in a low flame. Add some 1 teaspoon of Garam Masala powder and 1 teaspoon of sugar to it. . DO NOT ADD WATER; DO NOT COVER THE LID. When the chicken is cooked properly with all the mixtures, you will get a brownish texture around it.

Now your chicken is ready.

So 60% of your work is now over.

 

Final stage of MIXING & SERVING:

This is the most important part of preparing the Chicken Biriyani. You have your rice ready, and you also have your chicken, for this, you need 4/5 threads of Saffron, 1/2 cup of warm milk, KEWRA ESSENCE or ROSE WATER. Kewra Water is an extract distilled from pandanus flowers and used to flavor meats, drinks, and desserts inIndia andSoutheast Asia. Put the saffron threads in the warm milk and you will get flavored milk. Now get a pan with deep and flat surface. You can also use pressure cooker as well. Put some ghee inside the pan and also apply the ghee on the inner surface as well. Next put the prepared rice and put two/three pieces of chicken on it. Now spread the saffron flavored milk and few drops of Kewra essence/rose water on it. Again repeat the same process and when you are finished with chicken pieces, cover the upper layer with rest of the prepared rice. Next Put the lid on or close the pressure cooker and heat the pan for another 5-8 minutes.

 

Next open the lid and you will get the aromatic, flavored Chicken Biriyani. We have used Saffron so that the rice will get nice orange texture.

TIPS: DO NOT USE TOO MUCH KEWRA WATER/ROSE WATER as TOO MUCH FLAVOR OF IT WILL RUIN THE FLAVOR and TASTE OF CHICKEN BIRIYANI.

Only 2-3 drops of the Kewra essence or rose water is enough in each layers.

Next step is to serve it over a plate. For this take some White Full Plate and serve it hot. You should serve the Chicken Biriyani with 2 pieces of chicken in each of them One Leg Piece and the other is the Chicken Breast Piece. Then put the fried onion over the rice and put some freshly chopped coriander leaves if you want. Also serve this with onion, cucumber, tomato, green chilies and lemon salad.

Finally you are finished with the Chicken Biriyani.

 

Final Thought:

Everyone has their own little list. My list is simple and in order of priority follows:
1. Aroma. It must have both sweet fragrance and herbal warm aroma.
2. It should be savory, but not spicy
3. Finally, it should meet the age old test. Drop a handful of Biryani on a hard floor. No two grains of rice should be stuck to each other.

 

 

Healthy Habit … ??

India is coming out as a superpower and in this economic situation, India is still shining. But today Indians are stressed and unhealthy like never before. We are indulged ourselves with Subway’s Subs, MacDonald’s Burgers and Domino’s Pizzas. We are consuming more fried food than the food and vegetables in their raw forms. Last year, medical journal Lancet reported a study of 20,000 Indian patients and found that 60 % of the World’s Heart Disease Patients are in INDIA, which has 15 % of the World’s Population.

This number is surprising because reports of Obesity and heart disease are very common to American and the European people. 

What could account for Indians being so susceptible — more even than Burger-and-Fries eating Americans?

FOUR THINGS: DIET, CULTURE, STRESS and Lack Of FITNESS.

Indian Food is famous for its vegetarian fooda, but it is actually Lacking in VEGETABLES.

Our diet is mostly concentrated on WHEAT and RICE and DAAL. We rarely consume vegetables. In our plate the most important vegetable is POTATOES. Green vegetables such as spinach, peas, bins, lettuce, cabbages, capsicum, cauli-flowers are rarely visible in our platter. Also if we prepare these vegetables, we DEEP FRY them in oil and then we made our food with it. During this process, we killed most of its nitrient value. 

The second most important Element is DAAL in its various forms. By Weight, Vegetables are NOT Consumed Much.

You could have an entire South Indian vegetarian meal without encountering a vegetable.

The Most Important Vegetable is the Starchy ALOO/POTATOES.

GREENS are Not Cooked flash-fried in the Healthy Manner of the Chinese, but Boiled or Fried till much of the Nutrient Value is Killed. Also we use a lot of BUTTER/GHEE in our food, lot of OIL and in this way we are making us vulnerable to obesity, heart diseases, diabetes. 

In Indian culture we tend to eat more and more than required. Whenever you are eating with the family or friends or relatives a very common term one can hear is HOW IS THE FOOD? IS IT GOOD? TAKE SOME MORE. If the person do not require any more food still to make other happy he/she takes more and more food. We do not like to work around the house also. We do not like to clean our house, clean our toilet, paint the house, clean the dust from the selves; We just love to sit in front of the TV or in a sofa while reading books or newspapers and we love to order someone else to bring the food. We do not maintain a proper diet. According to a proper diet, we should eat in small quantities and six times a day so that the body can never be feel empty and the BMI rate is constant. But we do not follow such things. We tend to eat a heavy breakfast in the morning, then lunch in the afternoon, evening snacks – which is mainly JUNK FOOD/FAST FOOD and finally a heavy dinner. in between we consume d tea/coffee for atleast 4 times.

 

‘Indian Men Do NO Work around the House. Middle Class Women do Little, especially after Childbirth. Many Cook, but the Cutting and Cleaning is done by the Servant. Slim in their teens, they Turn Thick-Waisted in their 20s, within a few years of Marriage. Since We are Dependent on Other People, we Have Less Control Over Event.

 

The Indian is under STRESS and is ANXIOYS. This is BAD For His HEALTH. He must be On Constant Guard Against the World, which takes advantage of him: the Servant’s Perfidy, Encroachment by His Neighbours, Cars Cutting In Front of Him in Traffic, the Vendor’s Rate that must be Haggled Down. ALMOST Nothing is Orderly and Everything Must Be WORRIED about.

In the Indian Office, the PAYROLL is a Secret, and Nobody is Told what the Other Makes. KNOWLEDGE causes great Stress, Though the Lack of Information is Also Stressful, Leading to SPY Games and Office GOSSIP. Because there is No INDIVIDUALISM in India, Merit Comes From SENIORITY and the Talented but Young Executive is Stressed by the Knowledge that he’s not holding the Position he Deserves. Indians are PEERLESS Detectors of SOCIAL STANDING and the Vertical Hierarchy of the Indian Office is SACROSANCT.

Dennis Kux pointed out that Indian Diplomats do not Engage Officially with an American of Lower Rank, even if the American was Authorised to Decide the matter.

There is NO CULTURE OF PHYSICAL FITNESS, and Because of This Indians DON’T have An ACTIVE OLD AGE.

As Indians do not want to work around the house hold, they do not have a proper physical routine. Once they got some money to spend, they purchases cars. They do not love to cycling. And even to go to a smaller distances, they never walk, they call an auto or they ride their bike or cars. We are simply a lazy bunch of people who just love to lie down and read or watch TV, or munch junk foods more and more.