Yell, Dwell, Hell nothing like Sorpotel!

When its GOAN cuisine I am FAMISHED

One of the questions I keep asking the students is that how many in the class are vegetarians? And I see many raised hands, Sometimes the Question is like this. How many in the class are vegetarians who eat meat? Again I see some raised hands. Nothing wrong? But I do believe the religious part of it.Not long before I had a pure vegan student, who once said, Sir ,I just hate meat, and products with addition of eggs, and she added, only when I am at home and when my parents are around, otherwise everything taste like chicken. My bro once tried to pull his stomach out , coz of the rice which he ate was cooked by using chicken stock,
One of the most common meat used by humans during the olden times were pork, there were so many reasons for it, and the varieties of product made from pork , sausages, salamis, forcemeats, in brief I put it all together in a single word Chacutiere(pork butchery) . we study of all these and relate continental cuisine to it, and we forget our own Indian pork dishes, there are so many, the best and the best, And all the credit goes to Goa .
There are endless dishes with pork in india, but many of them are from goa, the fact we have to agree. Pork Balcho, Pork Baffado, Pork Assado, spicy Pork sausage, Pastelo, Pickled Pork, Pork Vindaloo and the King of all Pork Sorpotel. Many in goa claim that their Sorpotel is best, the nice thing about sorpotel is that it can be prepared at least four to five days in advance of the special day. It is warmed up once a day till the day it is served with ‘sanna’ a steamed rice muffin.
The say a festival dining table is incomplete without the famous sorpotel and bibinka. And same like the bibinka a dash of coconut fenni is added in the sorpotel recipe. Here is a goan song dedicated to Sorpotel

For the hotch potch known as Haggis
Let the Scotsman yearn or yell
For the taste of Yorkshire pudding
Let the English family dwell

For the fame Tandoori chicken
That Punjabi praise like hell
But for us who hail from Goa
There’s nothing like Sorpotel!

From the bigwigs in colaba
To the small fry in Cavel
From the growing tribes in Bandra
To the remnants in Parel

From the lovely girls in Glaxo
To the boys in Burmah Shell
There’s no Goan whose mouth won’t water
When you talk of Sorpotel

And Oh! For Christmas dinner
Don’t you think it will be swell
If by some freak of fortune
Or by some magic spell

We could, as they have in Goa
A bottle of the cajel
And toddy leavened sannas
To go with Sorpotel!



Recipe:
Parboil the meat for twenty minutes and mince it fine, grind together 12 redchillies, 12 peppercorns, 1 tsp cumin.ginger, garlic, 8 cloves and 2 piece of cinnamon with 3/4cup of vinegar, Light brown the meat in oil to brown color, add the ground spices and stir for ten minutes add little more vinegar, the stock, chopped onions and green chillies add salt for taste and cook till the oil floats on top and the gravy is thick. Forget not to stir. And taste , if you are not happy with the taste. YOU HAVE PROBABLY FORGOTTEN THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT “ LARGE QUANTITY OF LOVE’


More of Bibinka and Fenni in my nex blog

The Birthday Cake

The Amateur, the professional, the fresher…..The difficulty in remembering two hundred and fifty grams of Flour, Butter, Sugar and ten eggs, with an addition of fifty grams of cashew and raisins mixed together. Indeed very hard to remember for Mr.Sapan (matlab Dream) a fresher or an amateur in cooking. The list of ingredients were written in a small piece of paper, folded and carefully placed in Mr. Dream’s pocket, the reason it’s his birthday the day after and he wants to prepare his birthday cake. Ah! What a birthday to remember…

Sirji, you do the purchasing and I’ll pay for it, is what Mr. Dream said, my reply of NO is to make him to learn a little bit of purchasing, Mr. Dreams excitement lingered around a few seconds after his exit. The purchase ended the same day after three to four phone calls from him the same evening.(clarification of indent!!!)
It’s he who prepares and I just help him, the creaming of butter with sugar, the long time beating of eggs, sieving of flour and baking powder together with an addition of cocoa powder everything went well. He sounded more like a professional in baking, and it sounds like he completely didn’t knew the functions of Ingredients, and most importantly one should know that a wrong measurement will turn a pro into amateur in baking. I am sure that he learned how to mix, though we didn’t measure the ingredients and I could literally see a finished baked cake in his eyes.
Looking at him , I stopped asking him the functions of ingredients and the reason for mixing, sieving and creaming, after twenty plus and another thirty minutes at Two hundred and twenty degree Celsius, my calculation of equal amount of flour , butter and sugar didn’t deceive me. The cake was perfect with awesome flavor and color, for the taste I have to wait till the midnight. Just a look in his eyes, I could say how the cake taste. The real reason behind this simple yet a beautiful cake is, not just the ingredients and the oven, along with a dash of Mr. Dream’s Love and passion, which made it all wonderful. I shouldn’t have used the word Amateur Isn’t it?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ……
Everyone is green in culinary, we learn something new every day. HAPPY COOKING!

Long Time... but still

The love for cooking have never reduced a bit, there are so many reasons to justify . I do not want to go in detail. I am very much proud to say that I teach cooking. Once a granny asked me, why are you learning to cook? What is there to learn? Those unanswered questions…… and there were many, adding to that, the words my mom says, that culinary is for those who gets an average in their twelfth standard. Yes I do agree that, I myself an average, but cooking does not come like that to anyone. Because I see it and feel it .For the past six years , I have witnessed many. A culinary student working with front office and a student who want to join MBA and work in multinational company, ending up as CDP in a star hotel. Ironic isn’t it? But again it’s hard to accept. The reason, culinary skills are hard to judge in a student in the three years of study.
The ones who are dying patients to sauté onions in the first year, the same ones who are tired to chop a tomato in the second year, blooms like an executive chef after their six months training… in the final year they think that cooking is all what they see and cook in their hotel for those six months. Many forget that cooking is like an open book, without an end and the real passion should come within. I often tell many students to visualize when they learn a recipe, it helps understanding the recipe up to seventy percent, but, there are dishes which deceive your visualized one.
To finish with, there are so many dishes around you, and certain secret recipes are very hard to decipher, whatever it may be, cooking is all what you do, involve yourself and love every second of it, the result is delicious and delicious, knowing the functions of ingredients is very important, and forget not to try something new all the times. Agree that there are lot to learn from the mistakes. So worry not, HAPPY COOKING!

Try this out.
Take 100 gms of butter or Margarine , sugar, and refined flour. Cream butter and sugar to a smooth and fluffy consistency, add 2 beaten eggs , mix well, add refined flour sieved with ½ teaspoon baking powder. Add ½ tsp vanilla essence and 100 gms of chopped dryfruits. Pour it in a greased mould and double boil for one hour or bake at 120*C for 20 minutes.

Punishment

Punishment, will it help?

This is the last term and I want the final years to use the maximum of culinary, but how many understand the real meaning of USE?. I am not calling it useless, may be I one of the reasons for it.Because all knows the students and the class is directly propotional to the teacher who handles it, and have you heard that there is no use crying over spilt milk?

Checking the students for grooming before the culinary session is just not a daily routine. It is in such a way that they really understand the purpose behind it. Is there anything wrong in a daily shave, proper kitchen kits, clean uniforms ? I do not find any, but why there is always a lack?

Too many questions, Punishments a good way for the solution, yes, punishments in diffrent form will help and this one went like this. I cook and everyone just observe(not eat) , its like a demonstration, rather than an usual practical culinay session. In the end its I who eat, and everyone??

The menu for the day was, Foccaccia, Cannelloni, Roast Chicken, three hours is more than enough for preaping all three dishes and to EAT. Starting with Foccaccia everything went well, in the end, a word of Promise from all students(to come in proper groomin) from next cooking session made me to share the bread.

At last my punishment had a purpose.Only I wish everyone comes perfect from the next culinary session, but somewhere around the corner of my mind a new form of punishment bliks.

sorry for the break

Things we do not expect, when it comes... there is always a need for break. I'm alright now, wish i start blogging now without a break... I just wish and do not expect. hope everything will go well, above all Ipray the almighty.

Hand of taste.

The only thing which linger in my mind after Diwali is the Ladoos .It happened all of a sudden, the planning and organizing a Diwali fest in our school, the interior decorations to do, the dishes to prepare. Yes, everything happened all of a sudden.We decided upon Badusha, samosas and Ladoos, of all three , words stammered when the word Ladoo was uttered, even the fingers trembled when we wrote Ladoo on the menu card. All this left us to have a food trial for Ladoo. I would rather call it a Ladoo trial.

Chef B, is very much confidant and revealed the secret recipe for Ladoo, its color and consistency.His excessive confidence words gave self assurance to everyone present in the kitchen, the result of the food trial - Excess sweet, poor color, and uneven size. Food trial is an experiment , perhaps there is always a chance to learn from the mistakes.

On the day of our school Diwali fest, the process went like this for preparing Ladoos. Bengal gram flour batter, deep fried into tiny boondis with a perforated spoon, the fried boondis went directly into warm sugar syrup, after twenty minutes the soaked boondis were spread out on a tray for shaping(Round shape). Unlike the food trial , the Ladoos turned out perfect, but I sensed some stammering when we uttered the word perfect.

A day after , its Ladoo again at Amaravishi place, the deep fried gram flour batter resulted in soft boondis , then the marriage between the boondies and the sugar syrup began by pounding it with a ladle, which lasted for twenty minutes, not to forget the fried nuts , the shaped ladoos were beyond perfect. There was a balance in everything, now you know the reason why only ladoos linger in my mind after the festival of lights.

I'm not comparing the three Ladoos, its picking the best among all. In future if I come accross any other ladoo, the Ladoo at Amaravishi's place remains the best. I do not want to research the reasons behind it, because I beleive something called Hand of taste in cooking, and it exists in great quantity at Amaravishi's kitchen.

Pancake, pancake & poppyseeds

Whats the name?
The customs of our community in nilgiris are myriad, and the food’s and our eating habits is also the same, there are many who visit our village just to Eat, Eat and Eat. More importance is given to quantity and no wonder many guest get tired, tasting the cup of tea in all our houses. Many from nilgiris know that our community is notable for its hospitality.

I still remember my early years in my village. Those raw plums we pluck, those huts we built with ferns, of all those early memories, and my favorite pancake and the pancake fest are just in front of my eyes. Those pancakes we prepare for the dead ones and cows, the name of the fest is Sakalathy. Star, moon, sun, snake and many things were depicted in front of our houses with ashes from the kitchen, in the center of the front yard a large brass plate with rice; udhaka (badagas gravy) and pancake were presented for the cow, which visit every house to taste, a sign of good luck.

After the cow, it’s the ghost’s turn; it is believed that the dead one’s from each family will eat the pancakes which we throw in to the green bush, and all the little boys join together with handful of pancakes walking towards the south side of village, where it is surrounded with GREEN trees and bushes. As soon as you reach the green, think of your dead grand parents and throw the pancakes in to the wild, I do not know what happens to the pancakes, because we are not suppose to turn back and look at our pancakes.

Today I hardly see any kids with pancakes and I do not see any green trees and bushes, the south parts of our village is crowded with buildings, buildings and buildings. Those were the years gone and it creates a nostalgia in me. The year was 1990 and the name of the village is MANJITHA


Note: the humble pancake contains, refined flour, salt, water, and cooking soda, the batter is then cooked on a griddle, both thin and thick versions are there, for thick pancakes along with abovementioned ingredients sugar, grated coconuts are added. Coconut milk with sugar and poppy seeds accompanies our badagas pancake.

Icecream Fried

Fried Icecream

Yes.. its easy , but has to be prepered well in advance..not a quick dessert tough.
The general principal involved in making Deep Fried Ice Cream is to coat a frozen ball of ice cream in an egg batter, then roll it in cornflakes or cookie crumbs, taking care to make sure the ice cream is fully covered so it doesn’t melt when briefly cooked in the hot oil.
Another variation is to tightly form pound cake around the ice cream before frying instead of battering it in the cornflakes or cookie crumbs.
Making Fried Ice Cream is surprisingly easy and doesn’t require exotic or expensive ingredients. However since the ice cream has to be refrozen several times to achieve the best results, Fried Ice Cream is more of a make ahead rather than an instant gratification dessert, so you’ll probably prefer to make it a day or so before you plan to serve it.
Popular toppings for Fried Ice Cream include powdered sugar, whipped cream, drizzled honey, and/or chocolate, caramel, maple, or butterscotch syrup. Fried Ice Cream is also wonderful topped with chopped nuts or fruit.
The dessert is commonly made by taking a scoop of ice cream frozen well below the temperature at which ice cream is generally kept, possibly coating it in raw egg, rolling it in cornflakes or cookie crumbs, and briefly deep frying it. The extremely low temperature of the ice cream prevents it from melting while being fried. It may be sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and a touch of peppermint, though whipped cream or honey may be used as well.
If fried ice cream is coated in raw egg prior to deep frying, the egg may remain uncooked due to the low temperature of the ice cream. If the egg is not carefully prepared or stored beforehand, the dish may cause salmonella food poisoning.

Tempura batter: A light batter is made of cold water and soft wheat flour. Eggs, baking soda or baking powder, starch, oil, and/or spices may also be added.

HAPPY FRIED ICEREAM!

I , Fish and Fishes

Try This @ Hotel Riyas, Near Yakkara BRidge, West Yakkara, Palakkad.

Ph: 9447604267, 0491 - 2529975

Seafood Sunday...

Crab, Fried fishes , Prawns, and more intrestingly Squid and Octopus, all these went in with a slow and steady phase. I did not expext my sunday lunch would be full and only of seafoods. The dishes were beyond expectations.


I, along with ten other food lovers, went on a long drive to hotel Riyas near Yakkara Bridge, Palakka, Kerala.We reached just in time for the lunch, with Riya's overwhelming happiness we were showered with great Hospitality.

Fourteen banana leaves covered the table with eleven of us surrounding.First came the prawns, four plates with two mildly spiced and two highly spiced, the jumbo king size prawns were huge with Riya's secret recipe, the taste was astounding. The flesh was firm and to the bite, what an appetizer to start with.

The second course consists of six varieties of fishes, all whole and all fried, all six with diffrent mouth feel, all our fingers and mouth worked without a break. The way the fish is presented is so good , even the Vegans will try the fish.

Three plates of crab with four crabs in each plate was our next course, The mouth watering river crabs took time to eat with bot our hands. A glass of sour buttermilk as sorbet inbetween the courses, truly refreshed our taste buds and increased our eagerness to the next seafood.

With Riya's suggestions and comments in between , with mouth full of fish and crab, the eating and enjoying seafood went on and on. Then came the real delicacy of our day, the squid, and Octopus, cut in to roundles and cooked with mild spice, The way the dishes were served is soo good, I strongly beleive that food is first eaten with eyes, then with nose and at last with mouth. We paid around forty five hundred which is less for Riya's food and hospitality. to end with , its worth travelling all the way to Riya's to taste the seafood delicacies.

Hotel Riyas,Near Yakkara Bridge, Wesy Yakkara, Palakkad. Phone: 0491 - 2529975, Mob: 09447604267.