The Cooking Ninja

Lately Pierre has been lamenting AGAIN (see my posts on Moghlai Murgh, Beef Madras, Balti Butter Chicken, Prawns in coconut gravy & Grilled Broiled Prawns) about lack of haute Indian cuisine in Clermont-Ferrand (or more generally, France) and yearning for his luscious, lip smacking favourite restaurant, the Shahi Maharani in Singapore. So strong was his longings that even while driving, I would catch him murmuring to himself 'ahhh... if only I can move 'Shahi Maharani here.' with a broad grin on his face. He even suggested (not once but several times and counting) that I ask the manager of the restaurant for a post in their kitchen when we are back in Singapore, so that I can learn how to cook like they do but at home to his majesty desire. LOL! This man has no shame when it comes to his food.

Now I'm going to let you in a little bit more just how popular we are at Shahi Maharani. Bear in mind that we only go back to Singapore once a year. Every year, upon arriving in Singapore, we would go immediately to lunch or dine there after dumping our luggages at my parents place. Not just the manager but the staff also recognise us immediately when we stepped into their restaurant saying 'Welcome back. Happy to see you again. How long are you staying in Singapore this time around? How's your little daughter? Oh, she didn't come along with you today? Hope to see her next time when you come by again.' Trying not to turn me off going there, Pierre would sneak in a lunch or dinner there once every week or thrice if he could rassle it out of me. And as our departure for France approach, so is our rising dinning frequency at this restaurant. To a point, the Manager even gave us a discount on our bill and sometimes a free drink. LOL! And on the last day in Singapore, we both would strike a bargain : Lunch at Shahi Maharani, Dinner with my family before we leave for the airport, and he dreaming of his favourite restaurant on the plane.

Since I can't bring Shahi Maharani to him, I told him to choose a recipe from this Indian cookbook that sweet Deeba (upon hearing that how much Pierre loves Indian food) gave me in London when we met at Food Blogger Connect last November. It was filled with delicious recipes and it was hard to pick one out of so many. So he decided to pick whichever recipe that he just happened to flip open the book and honest truth, we weren't disappointed at all.

Reshmi Kebab (Chicken Kebabs)

(Taken from Moti Mahal's Tandoori Trail by Monish Gujral)

Ingredients

• 750 g chicken meat (cut into big pieces)
• 1½ tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
• 50 g (5 tbsp) gram flour
• 100 g (½ cup) cream or crème frâiche
• 2 tsp white pepper powder
• 50 g (¼ cup) cheese spread (cream cheese or laughing cow)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp green cardamom powder

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken pieces with ginger-garlic paste and salt. Keep aside for an hour.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add gram flour and stir continuously till the oil separates and a sweet smell emanates.
3. Remove from heat, add cream, white pepper powder, cheese spread, egg and green cardamom powder. Whisk to a smooth paste.
4. Apply to the chicken and keep aside for 2 hours.
5. Skewer the chicken and grill in a tandoor or a preheated oven till golden brown.
6. Serve with mint chutney and onion lachla in vinegar.

The Verdict

The kebab is very tasty and aromatic - simply delicious, even though cardamom flavour is strong with this one! Like all grilled meat, the chicken breast is slightly dry yet very tender. It was so good that we had it for dinner and lunch the next day. We can't wait for warmer weather so that we can grill this outside. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Notes

I didn't have gram flour, so I used cooked chickpeas (from a can) and mashed them. And add some olive oil to the creamy mixture. I also ground some green cardamon pods myself as I don't have it in powder form.

To make ginger & garlic paste: put equal amount of peeled garlic and ginger in food processor and process it. Add a bit of water if necessary to make a smooth paste. Keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freeze it in small quantity for later use. This can be used as marinate for meat, poultry and seafood or added to sauces.

There are 2 exciting things happening in my life right now. Firstly, I'm flying to London this Friday for my very first Food Bloggers Connect conference, meeting fellow bloggers that I have met through blogging, via Facebook and Twitter. The response to this meeting is tremendous, far more than we expected, with 70 confirmed attendees from all over the world. We are going to have lots of fun exchanging knowledge, getting to know each other and rock the house down that day. We are all so excited about it and counting down each day on Twitter. LOL!

Now other fantastic thing that happened to me is I finally made a friend, Sharon, in Clermont-Ferrand. Hard as it is for many of you to believe, but it has been a long and tiring journey for me trying make new friends and have some sort of social life in this new city for the past 2 years. It all happened last Wednesday when we stopped at KFC for lunch (the usual Wednesday routine) so that we can eat while Little One can play at the big playground with other kids there. All of sudden I heard a young woman with a very familiar accent talking to her son. I told Pierre that I wasn't sure if she was from Singapore or from Malaysia. Pierre was very excited for me (knowing that I have been very lonely here and missing friends) and coaxed me to speak to that young lady right away. I was kind of hesitant at first (after being rejected by people so many times, my skin has gone thin), then I plucked up courage and approached her... funnily, she made a move towards me at the same time. Turned out she has been living here for almost 3 years now and she, like me, thought she is the only Singaporean in this city. LOL! It was a blessing meeting her. I'm grateful to Sharon for introducing me to her weekly meeting with a group of lovely ladies (mainly wives of Michelin's expatriates), her child's playgroup as well as introducing me to courses at AVF (Accueil des villes Francaises) where I'm learning silk painting together with her. Thank you Sharon for your friendship, kindness and generosity.

The following recipe is a representative of what life has presented me at this moment - aromatic, sometimes tangy but the right amount of spiciness to keep me on my toes.

Balti Chicken

(taken from Indian - Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez)

Ingredients

• 1½ kg (3 lb) chicken (skinned & cut into 8 pieces)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 medium onions (sliced)
• 3 medium tomatoes (halved & sliced)
• 2.5 cm (1") cinnamon stick
• 2 large black cardamons
• 4 black peppercorns
• ½ tsp black cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ginger pulp
• 1 tsp garlic pulp
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp natural (plain) yogurt
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro (chopped)
• 2 fresh green chilli (chopped - I only used 1)

Drections

1. Heat oil in wok or a deep round bottomed frying pan (skillet), stir-fry sliced onions until they are golden brown.
2. Add in the tomatoes and stir well.
3. Add the cinnamon stick, cardamons, peppercorns, black cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, garam masala, chilli powder and salt. Lower the heat and stir-fry for about 3 - 5 minutes.
4. Add the chicken pieces, making sure that the pieces are well mixed and coated with the spices. Stir-fry for at least 7 minutes or until the spice mixture has completely penetrated the chicken pieces.
5. Stir in the yogurt and mix well.
6. Lower the heat and cover. Cook it gently for 15 minutes.
7. Give it a stir once or twice to avoid food sticking to the bottom of the pan.
8. Finally add the lemon juice, fresh coriander (cilantro) and green chillies. Make sure it is well mixed.
9. Serve at once with plain rice.

The Verdict

It was so aromatic while I was cooking it that it perfumed the whole house with it's aroma making everyone hungry and drooling, especially me. I personally love this dish - tangy, tint of spiciness, full of flavour and so are the chicken pieces.

Pierre finds it a bit too sour for him while I find it just right so I would suggest to add only 2 tbsp of lemon juice first and adjust the last tablesppon of lemon juice to your taste.

Notes

As I didn't have black cumin seeds nor black cardamom pods, I just use the normal cumin seeds and green cardamom that I have in my pantry. From what I understand, the difference in flavour is barely noticeable.

Cooking the chicken pieces with bones makes a dish more flavourful, however you can replace it with boneless and cubed chicken. In this case, the reduce the cooking time for step 4.

As all of you already know, Pierre and I love Indian food, besides cooking some at home, we frequent a lot of Indian restaurants too. The menus always have a lot of unfamilliar words that we can only understand thanks to the provided translation. As I was writing this post, I decided to do some search on what those we see most often mean.

Here is what I found: Batak (duck), Chingri (shrimps), Gosht (meat - invariably lamb), Jingha (prawn), Kofta (meat balls), Murgh (chicken), Nargis (boiled egg), Paneer (cheese), Bhindi (okra, ladies' fingers), Dall (lentils), Ghobi (cauliflower), Kumbi (mushrooms), Matar (peas), Saag (spinach); and "Aloo Gosht" means Potatoes with Meat. And this is what is simmering in our pot today.

It all started on twitter with a group of wonderful and good food blogging friends. We were twittering about food (what else) and such when I kept seeing the word 'Ghost' popping up. Whenever Jamie and Deeba mentioned about Jamie's Aloo Gosht, they would joke about Meeta seeing ghost when having this dish. Now that piqued my ninja curiosity wondering if Meeta really had some ghostly encounter with this dish. To my great disappointment, it was nothing of the kind. LOL! You see, Meeta was trying to compliment Jamie on her recent Aloo Gosht dish when she accidently typed Aloo Ghost instead, causing Jamie and Deeba teased her non stop about it. To be honest, I never really made the connection between gosht and ghost until Meeta let me in on the joke. It was then that I took a double look at the word 'GOSHT' - LOL. So here we are, I made our very own Aloo Ghost, oops, I mean Gosht.

The below recipe is a slightly modified version from the original version by Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking on Jamie's blog, Lifesafeast.

Aloo Gosht - Delhi-styled lamb cooked with potatoes

Ingredients

• 7 tbsp vegetable oil
• 175 g onions (finely chopped)
• 1 fresh green chili (seeded and chopped)
• 5 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 thumb size ginger (finely chopped)
• 1 kg lamb shoulder (cut into large cubes & keep the bone)
• 350 g tomatoes (peeled and chopped, juices reserved with the tomatoes) or 1 can tomatoes
• 1 tbs ground cumin
• 2 tsps ground coriander
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsps salt
• 500 g potatoes, peeled and cut in half
• a bunch of coriander (roughly chopped)
• 600 ml water

Directions

1. Heat up a large, heavy bottomed pan or wok with 7 tbsp of oil over heat high. When the oil is hot, stir fry the onions until golden brown.
2. Add in green chilli, ginger and garlic in the pot and stir fry for a few minute.
3. Mix in the cumin, coriander powder, turmeric, chilli, making sure it is well combined.
4. Add the chunks of lamb including the bones (if any) to the pot making sure it is coated with above mixture. Stir it for about 5 minutes.
5. Pour the chopped tomatoes (or a can of tomatoes), chopped fresh coriander & water and season it with salt. Stir to blend all in and bring it to a boil, sauce should thickened.
6. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer partially covered for 1 hour or so. Add more water if you find it too concentrated.
7. Add the potatoes and cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until soft. Check seasoning to taste before serving.
8. Serve hot with rice

The Verdict

It's savory and very aromatic with just a teasing tint of spiciness in each spoonful. The meat is very tender. It's also a bit soupy and the broth is lightly tangy. My mom-in-law finds it very refreshing and umpf! A wonderful dish to have on a cold day!

Notes

In my above recipe I have reduced the quantity of water from the original recipe of 900 ml as I find my dish was way too soupy (very thin broth) to my liking and I had to simmer it uncovered for a long time to reduce water. I find that it is better to add less water first and dilute it later to your preference if one finds it too concentrated.

If you are using normal pot to cook the above recipe, cook step 5 until oil separates from the sauce and sauce thickens. However if you are using a non-stick wok or pot, oil will not separate from sauce.

If you have some very firm potatoes, you may let potatoes simmer together with the rest of the ingredients for an hour or so. As for me, the normal potatoes I had in my pantry just simply melt to pieces at the end of an hour or so of simmering.

Adjust the spiciness according to your taste. Omit the green chili totally if you can't take spiciness, but put more if you like it hot as I made it mild for my family. The chili powder I use in all my recipes is from grounded dried chilli. I understand that there are different version of chili powder available - some are a blend of chili with other spices.

The good thing about having your own cooking blog is that you can quickly refer to certain recipes without having to flip to through your notes, cookbooks or surf the internet just to find that recipe. Having said that, my little family has finally had enough of me cooking the same old dishes from my blog, delicious as they may be... getting BORING, BORING, BORING!

Now cooking for my household isn't that easy too... hubby likes spicy food, is a sauce person, doesn't quite like fish with bones or crab (too much work to eat), is not a vegetable or soup person, etc. His loves meat and is a difficult man to cook for. Whereas Little One & I are the opposite, we like soup, vegetables, fish etc, however Little One can be equally difficult to cook for too. She loves pasta and rice. You would think 'oh that's easy then, just cook any meal that has pasta or rice.' Wrong! Mademoiselle has her days - good days, she eats everything presented to her, difficult days (which is often the case now) - she picks out everything off her rice or pasta and simply happily just eat plain rice or pasta with cheese much to my chagrin. And getting her to eat meat is another story - it's like serving her poison. She shows a clear sign she isn't a meat person since she was a baby.

You must be wondering how do we ever come to a compromise on our palate - well, apparently hubby and baby share a common love for PIZZA! Any mention of that send both of them into a joyful pizza dance, but not so for me. Since it's 2 vs 1 - I'm out voted. LOL! Both love cakes and cookies, a true blessing for me since I love to bake. I have to say in regards to bakeries, she's a true Daddy's girl for she has the same possessiveness about her sweets just like her papa. Just this evening, she told everyone at the table (grandparents included) not to touch her cake as it is only reserves for little ones like her, and if any adults eat it, it will make them sick to their stomach. LOL!

So what binds hubby and I? Love for spices and spiciness. Little One has been prepared and trained for it since the day she entered our lives. And apparently she loves it too for I had 9 months of pure bliss savouring all sorts of spicy food. Once she started on solids, now and then we sneaked some spicy food on her plate without her knowledge. From experience, we found that once she knows it is spicy, she won't touch it or she will spit it out even though it is not that spicy. However there are times when she sees us tugging in our spicy food with such sheer delight that rouse her curiosity and she asks for bite, just like tonight's dinner. At first she was hesitant, but encouraged and coaxed by me, she gave it a try. Much to her own surprise and ours, she loved it and even asked for some on her rice. Now that's my true little ninja spirit.

Hot Chicken Curry

(taken from Indian - Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp corn oil
• ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
• ¼ tsp onion seeds
• 2 medium onions (chopped)
• ½ tsp garlic pulp
• ½ tsp ginger pulp
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 400 g (14 oz) canned tomatoes
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 350 g chicken meat (cubed)
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro (chopped)
• 3 fresh green chilli (cut into chunks), I only used 1.
• ½ red bell pepper (cut into chunks)
• ½ green bell pepper (cut into chunks)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium wok, fry the fenugreek and onion seeds until they turn a bit darker.
2. Add the chopped onions, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for about 5 minutes until onions turn golden brown. Lower heat to very low.
3. In the meantime, mix the ground coriander, chilli powder, salt, tomatoes & lemon juice together in a big bowl.
4. Pour this mixture into the wok and turn the heat to medium. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes.
5. Add the chicken pieces and stir-fry for 5 - 7 minutes.
6. Add the fresh coriander (cilantro), green chillies, red and green bell peppers.
7. Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes covered or until bell peppers and chicken are cooked.
8. Serve hot with plain basmati rice or chapatis.

The Verdict

This is not a "curry" in the sense that most western people think of it: there's no curry powder inside and it doesn't have the characteristic flavor. This is however a very aromatic and spicy dish and is definitely one of my favorite Indian recipe. It's also quite healthy as you can see from the ingredients - low fat and veggies but definitely not bland Everyone loves it, especially hubby who isn't a vegetable person.

Notes

I used normal vegetable oil and omitted onion seeds in above recipe as I couldn't find it anywhere in town. And also I only put 1 green chili, it's already a bit spicy so if you can't take spiciness, it's better to totally leave out the green chillies.

My hubby has always been a big lover of Indian cuisine - so much so that whenever we are back in Singapore, the very first restaurant he heads for is Shahi Maharani. We eat there so frequently that even the manager recognises us instantly whenever we are back in Singapore, never mind that he hasn't seen us for over a year.

Since we haven't been back to Singapore for almost a year and I haven't been cooking any Indian food for a long long time, he needed to satiate his cravings, and I gave in after a few days of bugging. Flipping through our favourite Indian cook book, of course, he had to pick THE dish that has an ingredient that not only I had no idea what it was nor where to find it: madras masala paste. The book did not say how to make it or what it's supposed to be like. The Internet came to the rescue, and once I got the paste made it was now time to do this Beef Madras, which according to the book is a popular South Indian curry prepared mainly by Muslims.

Beef Madras

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onions (finely sliced)
• 4 cloves
• 4 green cardamon pods
• 2 whole star anise
• 4 fresh green chillies (chopped
• 2 red chillies (fresh or dried, chopped)
• 3 tbsp Madras masala paste
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 450 g lean beef (cubed)
• 4 tbsp tararmind juice
• salt & sugar

Directions

1. Heat oil in a wok and fry the sliced onions until golden brown.
2. Lower heat, add in the spices & paste and fry for a few minutes.
3. Add in the cubed beef and mix well. Cover and let it cook on low heat for about 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender.
4. Once beef is tender, remove lid and cook uncovered on high heat for a few minutes to reduce any excess liquid.
5. Stir in the taramind juice, season it with salt and sugar according to your taste.
6. Serve it hot with rice.

The Verdict

It's very aromatic, delicious, tender and super spicy. I personally couldn't take the heat of this dish eventhough I was wise enough to put only 2 green chillies minus the red ones. Hubby loves it so much that he didn't even care if his taste buds were on fire. He had 2^nd and 3^rd helpings. I salute him for his bravery - not bad for a ang mo (a Singapore local word for 'Caucasian').

This dish taste even better the next day.

Notes

I realised when preparing this dish the 3^rd time that how spicy this dish is depending on how spicy is your Madras Masala paste. If you reduced the spiciness in your paste, then you can add more fresh chillies (1 green & 1 red) or whatever combination you prefer. However if your paste is very spicy like mine (when I first did it), reduce the amount of paste added to the dish or simply leave the fresh chilies out.

Did you ever find yourself getting stuck with a recipe that list a paste or ingredient that you have no idea how to get or make? I often did and it is so annoying. Recently I was trying to making an Indian recipe and I stumbled upon Madras Masala Paste??? erhm... huh? What is that? I flipped through the whole book from back to cover... no mention of what this paste is nor how to make it. Thank goodness for the Internet, without it, I wouldn't be able to make this paste nor know what it is.

Ok, Confession time: when I made this paste the first time around, I didn't have exactly all the ingredients and I improvised a bit. I replaced the spices with ready-grounded spices. I replaced black mustard seeds (I didn't have them at hand) with wasabi (I know, the Indian chef would have a heart attack if he knew this) and I used balsamic vinegar instead of cider. On top of that, I absently added the oil into the paste mixture. I realised my mistake too late. Anyway I cooked the paste, curious to see how it would turn out - although the oil never separated from my paste, the paste was still delicious and very fragrant.

Coming soon, recipe that uses this paste. Do watch out for it.

Madras Masala Paste

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 4 tablespoons cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
• 11 tablespoons ground turmeric
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 inches piece fresh ginger, peeled and shredded
• cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup sunflower oil

Directions

1. Heat up wok and dry stir-fry the coriander, cumin, and peppercorns for 1-2 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring constantly.
2. Add the black mustard seeds and toss constantly until they start to pop. Do watch the spices carefully that they don't get too dark or burnt.
3. Transfer the spices to cool on a plate. (The spices will continue to cook if you leave them in the wok to cool). Grind the cooled spices into a fine powder.
4. Add the turmeric, chili powder and salt, garlic, ginger and stir in enough vinegar to make a paste.
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan at medium heat, fry the paste, stirring constantly until the oil begins to separate.
6. Remove pan from heat and let the paste cool completely.
7. Keep the paste in a clean airtight container. Store in fridge and use it within 3 weeks.

Notes

As noted by one of my reader and confirmed by my friend from India, vinegar is not part of any traditional madras recipe. As far as my friend's knowledge goes, South Indians use tamarind juice wherever they need the sour taste and not vinegar. So I guess the vinegar is an improvised solution when one doesn't have tamarind on hand.

This paste is very aromatic and spicy - as it is really white-hot-fire-burning-inferno-from-hell. For those who can't take it very spicy, reduce the quantity of chili powder added to the paste. You have been warned!

It's funny how living in hustling and bustling city life for too long makes one takes lots of things for granted. I have been so busy with my life that I forgot to take a pause and enjoy the beauty and simple pleasures in life. Spending the last few weekends up at the mountain house with a snowy mountain view reminded me about it and it also brought back a lot of fond childhood memories. So before I post today's recipe, I would like to share with you this lovely poem that I came across when I was 14 and it has since then imprinted in my heart and mind.

Leisure

"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."

W.H. Davies

Today's recipe is by my best friend Leeza, who taught me how to cook this delicious mutton curry. If you are like me, who doesn't really like mutton because of the smell of the meat when cooked, you shouldn't worry about it when making this dish. The trick is to get rid of as much fat surrounding the meat as you can possibly take out, leaving only a bit here and there as it is needed for cooking.

Mutton Curry

(Leeza's recipe)

Ingredients

• 500 or 600 g mutton or lamb (preferably with bones)
• 1 thumb sized ginger (to blend)
• 1½ big red onions (to blend)
• 4 cloves garlic (to blend)
• ½ big red onion (quartered or sliced)
• 1 tomato (quartered)
• 140 g tomato paste
• 1 yogurt
• 2 long red chili (take out the seeds)
• 50 g butter
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 green cardamons
• 4 cloves
• 1 star anis
• 1 to 2 tbsp meat curry powder (more if you prefer it spicier)
• A bunch of coriander and mint leaves
• Salt

Directions

1. Remove as much fat as you could around the meat (leaving behind a little bit only) and cut it into big chunks.
2. Blend ginger, garlic and 1½ pieces of red onions together into a paste.
3. In a big wok or pot, put in the meat and bones, blended paste, tomato, ½ onion, yogurt, chilies, cinnamon, cardamons, cloves, star anis, curry powder, mint leaves and coriander.
4. Blend the tomato paste with a bit of water and pour into the pot (covering the meat half way).
5. Bring the pot to a boil (stirring it now and then) and then let it simmer for 2 to 2½ hours, stirring it now and then. Season it with salts once the gravy has thickened.
6. Serve this with rice. Enjoy it to the very last bit.

The Verdict

SHIOK ! (DELICIOUS)

The meat is so tender and savorous with its very aromatic and spicy gravy. A great dish to have during cold season - sure warms you up right away.

If there is any leftover gravy, don't throw it away. It tastes great with pasta.

What I love about this dish is that it is very simple and easy to prepare (fuss free) - just dump everything into the pot and bring it to boil and then let it simmer for 2 hours and the meal is ready.

Notes

If you prefer to have more gravy, add more tomato paste and water. Add more curry powder if needed for the spiciness.

We have been craving to go for some spicy food at our favourite Indian restaurant for more than a month, however the thought of dinning in a restaurant with our active and curious 1 year old is enough to dampen our desire. Even in a kid friendly environment, our little Miss Curious will start squirming in her seat within 30 minutes and want to walk around the restaurant, check out the people, the tables and what is on them. So in the end, we decided to cook an Indian meal ourselves. Pierre picked this Moghul-Style chicken out of all the curry dishes for it's use of saffron, and of course the fact that we have never tried it before!

Moghlai Cuisine originates from the kitchens of the the Mogul Empire. This cuisine, influenced by Middle-Eastern cuisine, is predominantly found in Nothern-India and many of the dishes carry over some of its dishes names: kofta, kebabs, pulao, etc. It's usually quite spicy like other Indian Cuisines, but has its own distinct aromas and taste - something I found out by cooking this dish.

This is my very first entry to this month 'Think Spice...Think Saffron' - a monthly spice event host by Sunita's World.

Moghlai Murgh

(taken from Indian - Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez)

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 4 chicken breasts
• 6 tbsp ghee or butter
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 1 fresh ginger -5 cm or 2" long (finely crushed)
• 4 cloves garlic (finely crushed)
• 4 cloves
• 4 green cardamon pods
• 1 cinnamon stick - 5 cm or 2" long
• 2 bay leaves
• 15 - 20 strands saffron
• 150 ml or 2/3 cup natural plain yogurt
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 5 tbsp double or heavy cream
• 50 g or ½ cup ground almonds
• garam masala

Directions

1. Coat the chicken with a little garam masala.
2. Lightly beat the eggs with salt and pepper and then brush the chicken with it.
3. Heat the ghee or butter in frying pan and fry the chicken. Remove and keep warm.
4. With the same ghee or butter, fry the chopped onions, crushed ginger, garlic, cloves, cardamons, cinnamon and bay leaves until the onions turn golden. Remove the pan from heat and let it cool a little.
5. Beat the yogurt with 1 tsp cornflour. Add the saffron and the beaten yogurt to the onions and spices. Mix it well to prevent the yogurt from curdling.
6. Put the pan back to the heat, season it with salt, add in the chicken with its juices (if any) and gently cook until the chicken is tender.
7. Just before serving, fold in the cream and ground almonds.
8. Serve hot.

The Verdict

Saffron is crucial to the flavour of this dish and we can distinctively smell and taste it. It is creamy, nutty with the dominant parfum of saffron. The chicken pieces were very tender and tasty with the garam masala. Although there is no chilli in the recipe, we could feel a very light spiciness (that's the garam massala). I love the whole dish so much that I couldn't get enough of the chicken and its creamy sauce - definitely something I'll cook again!

Lassi is a yogurt-based beverage, originated from India where it exists in several versions: salty, spicy or sweet. Sweet Lassi is a recent invention that is flavoured with rosewater or lemon, mango, or other fruit juice. It's a very refreshing drink to have during a hot summer weather and is also a great way to dose that fire from an overly spicy dish.

I can still remember the first time I had lassi...no, it wasn't in Singapore but in France. Wait... Singapore girl never had lassi before in her entire life living in Singapore??? You must be wondering which planet I've been living in. And it takes a French man to introduce this delicious drink to this Suah Koo (pronounced as "swah-koo" - a Hokkien dialect word) cooking ninja. Given the large Indian community in Singapore, you'd expect it to be the other way around... how on earth I never once tried lassi in my whole life in Singapore, beats me.

Rose Lassi

(taken from Bôllyfood by Marie-Laure Tombini)

Ingredients

• 300 g Greek yogurt
• 4 tbsp sugar (fine)
• 1 tbsp rose essence
• 3 drops red colouring

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients with 150 ml water or whisk the mixture until frothy.
2. Keep it in the refrigerator till it's ready to be served.

The Verdict

It's super delicious and is as good as those I drank in the restaurants. Had I known it's so easy to make one at home, I would have made some long long time ago, no need to go to an Indian restaurant for one anymore.

Notes

Because we couldn't get our hands on rose essence, we did ours with some rose syrup instead, and skipped on the sugar. We also experimented with the 2 different way of preparing it: the whisked one was a bit too thick to our taste, and the solution of adding water gave a more satisfying and liquid enough drink (I like not to drink with a spoon... and I could adjust the amount of water to suit my taste). Also found out that 300 ml yogurt will only make 4 small glasses of lassi.

Some make their lassi with ice instead of water and blend it in the blender. It'll probably be more of a frozen yogurt.

Pierre (who likes cooking too, but not all day) bought this new Indian cookbook because it's 1) simple with short cooking instructions 2) easily obtainable ingredients 3) and requires a limited number of them. This is in contrast to our other main Indian cookbook which has authentic but complicated recipe with authentic - and as such hard to find - ingredients. However as simple the recipes were, the new book ended up like many of those books, sitting on the shelf neglected. But as I was browsing through my little library the other day, it practically jumped out in front of me shouting 'Me! Me! Me!' (the poor little thing ).

Prawns in coconut gravy

(taken from Bôllyfood by Marie-Laure Tombini)

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 250 g cooked prawns
• 1 onion (sliced thinly)
• ½ yellow or green bell pepper (cut into small cubes)
• ½ tsp fresh ginger (grated)
• 1 clove garlic (pulped)
• 1 tbsp coriander (chopped)
• ½ tbsp turmeric
• 10 cl or 100 ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt

Directions

1. Peel the prawns, keeping the tail part.
2. Heat oil in a preheated wok or pan, sauté the onions till soft.
3. Add in the garlic, ginger, bell pepper, coriander and turmeric. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Throw in the prawns and make sure it is well incorporate with the spice mixture before pouring in the coconut milk.
5. Season it with salt and let it cook for about 3 or 4 minutes.
6. Serve it hot with plain rice.

The Verdict

This dish is actually flavourful and tasty. I was pretty much taken by surprised, as I tend to be doubtful of "simplified" cooking. The prawns and the coconut milk give it a tint of sweetness. It's also a nice surprising change from spicy ones we usually have, and as such it's a good recipe for those who can't take spicy food or have young children.