An Upma Cake with Leek, Tomato, Rosemary n Milk

Semolina Upma Porridge cake with sweet flavors from Leek, the fleshy tartness from Tomato, the crunch of Peanuts n herbal cool depth from Rosemary

As far as I can remember my first taste of upma took place about 15 years ago when one evening my elder sister got back home n cooked upma excitedly for the first time in our home n I watched her, she must have learned it from the mother of one or her friends I guess. And when everything came down on the plate it was like tasting a new island…you know that sorta feeling! And then we loved it n then it was prepared again n again with hundreds of variation…well almost.

Upma is a savory preparation using semolina n vegetables as the two main ingredients, semolina/sooji/rawa is almost at every home in India and so often in the morning breakfast table or evening snacks time the kitchen is filled up with the aroma of curry leaves n roasted sooji, sound of sizzling vegetables in oil, sound of sputtering of mustard seeds play across the kitchen. An Indian kitchen is dramatic n full of life, the popping mustard n cumin seeds in oil, the humming exhaust fan gushes out the flavored smoke across the road hitting the home coming people  n making them hungry as they reach home, their feet hurry up to reach even quicker.

If I have to describe the primary flavors of a traditional upma I will mention the curry leaves, the tomato, the chana dal, the semolina, the onion, the mustard seeds and lastly the ghee or the tomato sauce! Yeah when we serve upma we scatter a touch of ghee/clarified butter over it  which gives it a fuller rich yet  light flavor or tomato ketchup which gives u sweet n sour edge  n both are very delicious. As a kid I was a fan of tomato ketchup, so often my upma  looked red, you know why.

In this version of upma I have featured the mild flavor of the leeks which is like sweet onion in a way, the brilliant fresh aromatic astringent quality of rosemary, the satisfying rich n crunchy peanuts, the fleshy lovable tomato and the richness of milk. I have walked in a different path from the traditional upma, using milk as the liquid part, taking the mustard n the dal away but the structure remains the same, the result is a delicious smooth creamy upma with brand new flavors! How cool is that…new flavors are always welcome, new islands are to be ventured.

The origin of upma is in the southern part of India, a part from where came brilliant vegetarian preparation now enjoyed across the globe. May be it also came from Sri Lanka, the region of Tamil Nad n Sri Lanka are so close. Upma is known as ‘Uppuma’, ‘Uppittu’, ‘Uppindi’, ‘Uppumavu’, ‘Upeet’, ‘Rulanv’ across all the Sothern states of India, ‘Upma’ is a short term used in Hindi.

So now I’ll give you the recipe.

For The Recipe: You will need

Semolina/Rawa/Sooji- 1 cup

Milk-2 cups, skimmed or full fat- your choice

Water -½ cup

Leek- I medium stalk, washed n halved length-ways, chopped into ¼ inch half moons

Capsicum- quarter of a big, chopped into 1 inch pieces

Tomato- 1 medium, chopped

Rosemary- ½ tbsp

Green chili-1 medium, chopped

Dry ginger powder/Saunth- ½ tbsp

Red chili powder- ¼ tsp

Turmeric powder- 2 pinch

Freshly ground black pepper- to season

Butter- 1 tbsp

Ghee/Clarified butter-1 tbsp vegetable oil- 3tbsp

Peanut- 3-4 tbsp, roasted

Pink rock salt- 1 pinch

Sugar- ½ tsp

Salt

1. Put a frying pan on low heat, when the pan is hot pour the semolina over it and shake it to spread it out. Give it 5-6 minutes in low heat and shake n toss every 1 minute, then increase the heat to medium and give it 4 minutes tossing every 30 seconds, make sure nothing is going red or brown, don’t go anywhere, stay right there, we have to shake n toss the pan frequently this time so that no part of the semolina gets too roasted, we don’t want any reddish color to the semolina, the semolina should stay white,  so after 4 minutes take them off onto a plate. In case the semolina got reddish while you are away its okay, carry on, it will give a different flavor.

2. In the same pan add 3 tbsp of vegetable oil n the butter, as the butter sizzles n melts  in a low medium heat add the chopped garlic, stir, then add the green chili, don’t let the garlic brown, add the leeks and stir well, let the flame be on low heat now, give them 5 minutes n stir in between, then add the capsicum n the roasted peanut , add a pinch of sugar, stir, increase the heat to medium now, give them 3 minutes, add some salt now, then add the tomato, a pinch pink rock salt n ½ tbsp dry rosemary,  give it a mix, give them around 5 minutes, the tomato will almost melt and the leeks will start to brown a bit, add the  ground ginger powder, chili n turmeric powder with a dash of water so that the spices don’t burn, keep the heat to low now,  give them about 3 minutes, the tomatoes would have melted now. Now add the milk n water, a pinch of dry rosemary again, add salt to taste and the sugar, taste n keep the salt slightly higher than normal because the semolina will go in the pan and absorb the salt, so when the liquid comes to a simmer, lower the heat and start sprinkling the semolina in one hand  as you keep stirring with other hand, keep stirring constantly and if you spot any lumps, press it and break it away, the mixture will immediate thicken, 1 cup of semolina will absorb minimum 2 ½ cup liquid, so if the mixture still need a little more add a little more milk and work it in. Move the pan away from the heat and add 1 tbsp f ghee and mix it well. The consistency will be smooth, thick; always keep stirring to mix the ghee really well.  Take the mixture off in plate.

3. Serve it hot n warm, scatter some roasted peanuts on top, if you want some fresh chopped tomato, then submerge your spoon into the creamy thick smooth Upma and have your hungry bite.

It is even good when cold, one healthy recipe that you can have time n time again, for this time don’t delay your bite, dig in, Bon Appétit.

A Fragrant Rice with Chicken, Saffron N Prawn-A Tale of Tantalizing Taste

Gobindobhog Rice cooked with Fresh water Prawn n Chicken with dry Red Chilies, Jalapenos, Saffron, Tomatoes- pure taste of delish

First I should tell you about this rice-Gobindobhog, a type of short grain rice from Bengal, the east of India. It smells amazing, how do I describe that smell, let me try- sweet, pleasant, fragrant, decent, subtle and full of promises. When you taste it, the depth of flavor coming from it takes you in a journey. So no wonder it is such a favorite rice to use when you are cooking something special, sweet or savory it handles both the sides extremely well. It has a sweet smooth buttery aromatic flavor, so often they are cooked with milk n sugar or jaggery to produce Payas/Rice Pudding/Chawal Kheer, sometimes they are cooked with chicken or fish or vegetables to produce fantastic pulao/pilaf, they are the base to make a fantastic “Murighonto- A savory rice dish with fish head n potatoes and whole garam masala”- it’s a never ending love story.

                          Now chances are if you live outside India, or even let’s say outside Bengal, you won’t get this rice easily, but still ask for this rice in Indian or Bangladeshi shops, it is every worth searching for. For this dish you can replace it with any short grain rice like risotto rice, Thai sticky rice, paella rice.

                                                                 I didn’t have a doubt when I combined this rice with prawns n chicken, what came out impressed me much more than what I imagined, the rice absorbs all the flavors so vividly, at the same time lifting the flavors up with its own flavor, in every bite I could taste the prawns, the tomatoes, the chicken, the garlic, the jalapenos, the saffron. It was like all the flavors were in harmony, n to top it all off it doesn’t take much time to cook, the rice takes 15 minutes to be done and all you have to do when the rice is cooking is to stir it in between.

Another layer of flavor comes from the aromatic spices that go in it, cloves, green cardamom, Indian Bay Leaf n Cinnamon sticks-as the broth simmers the spices release their flavor n blends into everything in the pan.

                     There are some recipes when you cook them it makes you a hero, people love you n the food that you cook-this is one such recipe. So next time there is a gathering of friends cook this and see them getting lost in the plate, which is actually a great sight to watch for a person who cooks with his/her heart.

                                    So now let me serve you the recipe, here we go…

For The Recipe: You will need

Govindobhog rice- 1 cup

Chicken breast-1 medium with bone, cut into 2 inch pieces, around 250 gm

Prawn- 4 big/ 6 medium, veined, washed but not peeled

Garlic – 3 medium cloves, chopped

Onion-1 medium, chopped

Tomato- 2 medium, chopped

Jalapenos- 2 tbsp

Green capsicum- 2-3 tbsp, chopped

Dry red chili- 1 medium, torn into pieces

Saffron- 2 pinch

Red chili powder- ½ tbsp

Turmeric- ¼ tsp

Cumin powder-1/4 tsp

Coriander powder-1/4 tsp

Bay leaf- 2

Clove-4

Green cardamom-1+1

Cinnamon stick- 2 inch

Soy sauce- a few drops like ½ tsp

Black pepper- 1 tbsp, freshly ground

Pink rock salt- few pinches

Salt

Sugar

Brown fried onion- to serve, 1 medium onion-sliced n fried till brown in a pan, it’s optional

Water-3 -4 cups

Vegetable oil/olive oil-5-6 tbsp

1.     Soak the rice in water for half an hour, then drain the water. In a frying pan heat the oil, when the oil is moderately hot reduce the heat to low, add the dry red chili torn into pieces, chopped garlic n stir,  don’t let the garlic brown, add cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, give them around 20 seconds , then add the chopped onion. Give them about 2 minutes on medium high heat stirring often, then add the capsicum, give it 3 minutes, then add the chicken pieces, put the flame high and sauté them for about 5 minutes, stir in between. Add a pinch of sugar, mix, then add the rice to the pan and give it a good mix. Keep the flame on medium high and stir often; we are now frying the rice grains to some extent. Give them around 4-5 minutes on medium heat, then add some salt and mix well. After that add the tomatoes, jalapenos  and 2 pinch of pink rock salt and ½ tsp of freshly ground black pepper, give it a good mix n give them about 2-3 minutes. Mix the red chili powder, turmeric, cumin n coriander powder with little water to make a paste, add this to the pan and mix well. Add a splash more water so that the spices don’t burn.

         2.     Heat the water in a bowl; we will use this hot water to add to the pan. So back to the frying pan add the saffron strands, mix, now add 1 cup of the hot water n stir so that everything is uniformly mixed. Keep the flame high at this stage, add the prawns to the pan, very soon the water will be absorbed by the rice, then add another cup of water, reduce the flame to low, add salt according to taste and few drops of soy sauce, ½ tsp sugar and mix well. The water will be just simmering in the pan, when this water is again absorbed , add half cup of more water, this whole process will take about 15 minutes, at the final stage we want the rice to be not dry but with some liquid part in it. So the amount of water will vary slightly, if the rice is soft n fluffy n the consistency of it some a bit flow-y it is there, if the rice still needs to be soft add 1/2 cup water and give it a little time.

        3.     Now when the rice is soft, put the flame off, we will add the final touches. In a mortar n pestle crush one green cardamom pod and 1 inch stick cinnamon with 1 tsp of water,  when it becomes a coarse mixture add this to the rice, add some more black pepper n mix n cover the pan for 2 minutes.

So it is ready to be served, serve generously and sprinkle some brown onions over it or forget it, it tastes so very delish! Mmmmm…Bon Appétit.

A Tempting Tart with Note Saag-A New Emotional Bite

Amaranth Leaves/Note Saag Tart with Coconut, Almonds n Parmesan

This dish existed in my head long before it came into being finally this June and it tasted better than what I imagined it to be for all the good reasons in life. I remember the moment the tart formed in my head, the inspiration was a dry-fry saag preparation by Mom, Amaranth  leaves  known as ‘Note Saag’  fried with onion n green chilies in pungent mustard oil and that tastes simply gorgeous, the combination of that saag n white rice makes up happy moments of eating at home. Now exactly at that point of time I decided to extend that love to a tart, I wanted to translate all that beautiful flavor of Note Saag into the tart. This is how she is born.

Amaranth is a whole family of perennial plants, some of the plants are used as leafy vegetables, some cultivated for cereals while some as decorating plants. So when ill be referring to ‘Note Saag’ it will specify one particular species of the plant family that we use in India for saag preparations, more specifically in the eastern part of India. The pictures will guide you to identify the one I used.

Its monsoon in India now, it rains almost once in a day for an hour roughly, the air becomes saturated with moisture n heavy until the wind blows n it feels fantastic! After a period of tremendous summer as the monsoon comes, it touches the soil n inspires, the soil soon comes up with fresh leafy greens. So right now the amaranth leaves/note saag is that fresh leafy green available in the local market, a gift of the monsoon. The note saag is prepared in many different ways across the home kitchens, some are dry-fried with minimum spices to lift up their flavor while some are combined with a paste of poppy seeds or other vegetables to prepare a medley of vegetables often known as ‘Chorchori’, while some are combined with fresh shrimps n sautéed together.

In this creation I combined the flavor of the note saag with fresh coconut, the parmesan, almonds together. The crispy outer layer of the tart crumbles as we bite into it n mingles with the soft deep flavor of the saag, the parmesan, the coconut-it almost becomes like a song.

When I first bite into the tart while it was still hot simply because I just couldn’t wait anymore, it made me emotional, in the next day I felt the same energy as I took my bite into the tart. So I had to share this recipe with you, so you can make it n feel that.

So now I think we should go to the recipe.

For The Recipe: We will need

For The Saag Preparation

Note Saag/ Amaranth leaves n tender stems- about 500 gm, washed, chopped into 1 inch pieces

Red onion- 1big or 2 medium, halved n sliced

Fresh coconut – 2 tbsp, cut into strips then chopped into little pieces

Green chilies- 2, sliced along the length but still in 1 piece/partly sliced

Mustard oil- 4-5 tbsp

Sugar- ½ tsp

Salt

Pink rock salt – a pinch

Red chili powder – a pinch

For the Short crust Pastry

Plain flour- 250 gm

Butter- 50 gm at room temp.

Olive oil/vegetable oil-3 tbsp (I used onion flavored vegetable oil)

Water-3 tbsp approximately

Salt – a pinch

For the Filling

The prepared saag

Egg yolks- 2

Thick cream- 150 ml

Parmesan cheese- 100 gm (you can use Gruyere cheese, its cool)

Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh coconut – 2 tbsp, cut into strips then chopped into little pieces

Almonds- 50 gm, sliced along the length

Pre-heat oven to 160 Celsius/325 Fahrenheit

1. Begin by preparing the pastry, for that in a flat vessel mix the flour with salt, then drop the oil n the butter n with a blunt knife cut the fat into the flour until it resembles  breadcrumbs, you can use your hand too, just rub the flour with the butter n oil between your fingertips, always work with a light hand, when the fat is well distributed n resembles coarse breadcrumbs add the water one tablespoon at a time and incorporating it with the knife into the mixture, then add one more n do the same. After 3 tbsp of water the dough should leave the bowl fairly clearly and should come together, try to make it come together with your hands, if this doesn’t happen nothing to worry, add one more tablespoon of water and try to do the same, if not add some more drops of water and try. Just as the dough comes together tip it on a wooden board and press down on the dough with your hands to make the whole thing come together, this is not kneading but bringing the dough together. With you both hands press on the dough and make it come together, then shape it into a flat round, cover in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. In a frying pan heat the mustard oil on a high flame, when the oil is hot reduce the flame to medium, add a pinch of sugar, let the sugar melt n go brown then add the onion n green chili, toss them around for about 2 minutes, reduce the flame to low n give them 2 more minutes, then add the coconut pieces and stir them, give them 2 minutes, then add the washed n chopped amaranth leaves, put the flame on high n mix everything well, stir fry them for 5 minutes on high heat, they will start to get a little brown, keep stirring, then reduce the flame to minimum n give 10 minutes like this, stirring often so they don’t burn, if the pan gets very dry at the end of the time add a splash of water. After that add the sugar n chili powder, mix well, then add pink rock salt, salt n taste. If there are brown bits sticking to the pan, sprinkle little water and incorporate all of that. Take them out of a plate and let them cool.

3. Roll out the pastry thinly between two cling films n line a tart tin, prick the base with a fork and bake blind in a moderate oven which is 160 Celsius/325 Fahrenheit  for 15 minutes. It should not brown. Now in a bowl mix 2 egg yolks, the thick cream, the grated parmesan with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper until well mixed. You can reduce the amount of parmesan if you wish; instead of 100gm you can use 70 gm.

4. Take the pastry out of the oven, arrange the note saag in the pastry case until the base is well covered, then pour the cream mixture over them. Sprinkle with the chopped almonds and the coconut pieces, then back in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the top slightly starts to get color, for this often at the last 3 minutes I put the top grill on. Take it out of the oven and leave it for 5 minutes then place it carefully on a glass and let the tart tin drop down.

Here you are standing in front of the warm tart with a knife in your hands and anticipation in your heart. Go on, make one slice and bite into it. It is as good slightly warm or hot or room temperature. Bon Appétit.