Mirchi ka salan

My virgin attempt at Mirchi ka Salan was quite successful. I ended up eating so many green chilies last night that my stomach hurt. You could use any pepper you like. I used Thai chilies, which I deseeded and removed the rib. You could use hot fingers or even jalapenos. I personally wouldn’t use jalapenos. Sauteing the green chilies, takes the edge off them and makes them edible- pretty much like eating a jalapeno popover.

The ingredients that go in the salan are pre-cooked before they all mesh together in lovely gravy which is – tart, sweet, hot, and salty, all at the time. And though there are many components to the cooking, you can do it in one pan.

So the first thing you do is roast the spices- the coriander seeds, the red chilies, and the cumin, till a splendid aroma hits your nostrils. Throw the spices in the blender.
In the same pan, throw in some peanuts. I used pre-roasted unsalted peanuts, but I still roasted them a bit, to release the aroma. You should dump these peanuts with the spice mixture.
Now it’s time for the coconut to join the party. I don’t like a lot of coconut in the salan- the combination of peanut and coconut is too cloy, in my opinion. Therefore, I restrict the coconut to a spoonful. Again, add the roasted coconut to the peanut and spice mixture right in the blender.
Same pan, add some oil now. In goes the onion, with the ginger and garlic. Keep roasting till the onions are done. Add to blender.

While the onions were cooking, you should take a small bit of tamarind, maybe two tbsp; throw in 1/3 cup of water and microwave for 40 seconds. You should get a dark brown liquid if you crush the tamarind a bit. I don’t like using ready made tamarind paste- it always has a weird after taste.
Add around 4 tbsp tamarind juice to the blender. Add a cup of yogurt, salt, ½ tsp sugar, and some water to the mixture, and blend all of these till you get a smooth liquid. Meanwhile back in the pan, add a1 tbsp of oil and saute the chilies till you get a sear on them. Add all the contents from your blender in the pan and simmer on low-medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning – sugar, salt, tamarind juice.

And serve with rice or paranthas. This is also an excellent accompaniment to Hyderabadi biryani.


Dry roast the following
1 tspn cumin seeds
2 tbspn sesame seeds
3 red chillies
1 tspn coriander seeds
add
1/3 cup of peanut roasted
Dry roast 1 tbspn coconut
Oil
Roast 1/3 large onion
1 pod of garlic
ginger

Blend the above with 4 tbspn tamarind juice, i cup of yogurt,water, salt and sugar.

Now take 8-10 green chillies. Slit and deseed. In 1 tbsp oil saute the chillies. Now add the blended mixture. Cook for 15 mins.Add chopped coriander.

Paneer Tikka Masala

Lately, I have met someone, who is white, and can take more heat in his food than a bunch of Hyderabadis put together. It works for me- he appreciates my cooking and I am happy not to temper down my spices. The other day we were at Kasa, a self promoted ‘indian taco joint’ in the Marina, which serves wonderful home cooked fillings like kadhai paneer, chicken tikka masaka, or kadhai gobhi, in a warm parantha wrap.
There I figured out his love for “chicken – teekaa – musaalaah’, and I wanted to make a vegetarian version with paneer.

The dish has two components to it. You make a tikka – or paneer/ chicken which has been marinated and skewered to imbibe the flavor of the marinade. The second component is the sauce – a rich spicy creamy tomato sauce. A lazy version of the sauce used by many a British home cook, has been a jar of Campbell tomato soup, spiced and creamed. However, this version had to use a basic Indian sauce, cooked from scratch, with a robust North Indian flavor. For this very reason, I dismiss Gordon Ramsay’s recipe since he uses the very South Indian aromatic- curry leaves.

I looked up recipes on the Internet and read the recipe from Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham. I particularly like Harpal Singh Sokhi’s version for chicken tikka masala. Here is a cook, who understands Punjabi cuisine and he explains the little tricks, and he definitely does not have a heavy hand with onion, garlic, ginger, which in their extremity mask the true flavors of the dish. He seems very technically proficient. However, I did change the recipe a little.

For the paneer tikka
Marinate a pack of cubed paneer overnight in the following marinade.
1 cup of yoghurt, 1 tspn each of cumon powder, coriander powder and chat masala, ginger, garlic, salt, and juice of half a lemon.we
The next day, you could either bake the paneer in a hot oven at 400 F, on oiled tinfoil.
Or use skewers. Soak the wood skewers in water. Skewer the paneer and get a fine crusting using a hot tawa.

For the Sauce
to some hot oil add the following - cumin seeds, 3 green cardamom, 1 black cardamom, black pepper, 2 bay leaves, 1 small piece of cinnamon
Add 1 and 1/2 large onions chopped finely to the spices .And saute till brown.
In a blender blend the following - 3 med tomatoes ( you want the onion -tomato ratio to be the same), 4 tspn cashewnuts, 3-4 cloves garlic, ginger.
Once the onions are done add the tomato mixture. Cook till dry. Add coriander powder, turmeric, red chilly powder. Roast the spices.

Add some water, and add the paneer. Cook for 15 mins. Add 1 medium cubed capsicum, Cook for another 10 mins, and keep adjusting water. Add 1/2 tspn sugar.
Add garam masala, chopped coriander, and cream. Mix all together.