Pork Chops With Apple Cider Jus

Hello boys and girls!

Did you know Old MacDonald had a farm? You did? Awesome! And did you know that on that farm he some pigs? You knew that too? Super! Then you must know that there was an oink-oink here, and an oink-oink there, here an oink, there an oink, everywhere an oink-oink! Well at least until the piggies were are hauled away to where a fairy Godmother cast a spell on them to transform them into things of real beauty! Things like bacon and ham and sausages! Into cuts like gammon and ribs and chops!

I love pork! Grilled, smoked, fried, glazed, seared and slathered with smoky barbeque sauce, or just roast on a spit for hours until the meat falls off the bone, or even (my personal favourite) a spicy Goan vindaloo! Every bite, loaded with flavour. Succulent pork pieces with chunks of fat that melt in your mouth! Is there anything better?

Today's recipe is a very simple pork chops recipe. Since we haven't seen a pork recipe so far, this seemed like a good choice. Tender pork chops cooked in the oven with tart granny smith (green) apples and apple cider on a bed of onions and carrots flavoured with rosemary and sage. It takes about 15 minutes to prep and about an hour and 10 minutes in the oven. Serve this with a side of fluffy mashed potatoes and some veggies and you'll have a feast that you won't forget very soon!

For Pork Chops With Apple Cider Jus, you will need the following:

Pork Chops	4 (big ones!)
Onions	2 large
Carrots	2 medium to large
Peppers (capsicum)	3 halves (one each of red, green, and yellow)
Granny Smith Apples	3 medium
Apple cider	half a pint
Rosemary	1 sprig
Sage	4-5 leaves
Garlic	2-3 cloves
Salt	to taste
Pepper	to taste
Olive oil

Prep:

1. Crush a garlic clove.
2. Rub the pork chops on both sides with salt, pepper and the crushed garlic.
3. Slice the onion into moderately thick rings.
4. Chop the carrots into big cubes.
5. Slice the peppers into moderately thick pieces.
6. Peel and quarter the apples.
7. Cut the apple quarters into half.
8. Bruise the remaining garlic. (Just bang it with something so it breaks. Don't smoosh it!)

Method:

1. Turn the oven on and heat to 200 degrees.
2. Grab a deep-ish oven tray.
3. Splash on some olive oil.
4. Lay on the onions so that the bottom of the tray is covered.
5. Squeeze the sage leaves in between.
6. Toss in the garlic.
7. Lay on the apples.
8. Tumble in the carrots and spread them evenly in the dish.
9. Drop in the peppers.
10. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper.
11. Lay the pork chops side by side on the veggies.
12. Pour in the apple cider.
13. Lay the rosemary on the pork chops.
14. Cover the tray with aluminium foil.
15. Slide the tray into the oven.
16. Set your timer for an hour.
17. Put on your fluffy socks.
18. Grab a Harry Potter book (for the hundredth time).
19. Lose yourself in the magic.
20. Snap back to reality when the timer *dings*.
21. Open the oven door.
22. Get smacked in the face with the heat.
23. Stagger back.
24. Put on your oven mitts.
25. Gently get the tray out of the oven.
26. Look for a place to put the tray.
27. Feel your hands getting warmer.
28. And warmer.
29. Experience full blown panic because your hands are on fire and you don't know where to put the tray.
30. Find a vacant surface.
31. Bang the tray down.
32. Throw mitts off and blow on your hands.
33. Take the foil off the tray.
34. Breathe in the aroma.
35. Wonder why your pork chops are a weird whitish colour.
36. Stick the tray back into the oven sans foil for about 10 minutes to brown the pork chops.
37. Wipe away a tear as you take the tray out.
38. To serve, put a pork chop (or two) on a plate, ladle on some of the gorgeous veggies and the cider jus and slap on a massive dollop of mashed potatoes.
39. Stuff face.
40. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: For mashed potatoes as fluffy as clouds: peel and halve the potatoes, toss into a pressure cooker with 2 cloves of garlic, 6 whistles, drain water, rough mash, dollop of butter, big splash of milk, salt and pepper, mash until fine.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!

Masala Dosa

Hello boys and girls!

By show of hands, how many of you know I'm from Poona? 1, 2... bunch of people in the back.. 18, 19.. that big group to the left.. umm.. so that's a pretty reasonable number. Now, how many people know that Poona is referred to as the 'Oxford of the East'? Ooh.. good stuff! In case you're wondering, the point of this seemingly pointless exercise is to lay the foundation for this post's back story. Right, now since Poona is referred to as the
'Oxford of the East', on account of its rich legacy for education, it does tend to attract a lot of foreign students and today's recipe is a request from one of my friends from Iran who like countless others lost his heart to one of the many Udipi restaurants that dot the area around college campuses and provide some great food at even better prices.

Since the last recipe we looked at was sambar, it is quite fitting that this one be one of its most trusted companions. Dosa. Dosas come in many different avatars; plain, masala, rava, mysore and a host of others! This recipe will address the most popular variant i.e. masala dosa. Light, crispy dosa stuffed with spicy golden potatoes with a side of cold coconut chutney and piping hot sambar! Ah bliss!

Before we begin, just a heads up, don't expect to be making perfect looking dosas from the get go. Odds are that your first few dosas will look like they've been through a war. A war in which they did not fare very well. They will taste just fine but will be more than a little far from aesthetically pleasing. Also bear in mind if you're making them on a freshly scrubbed tava or pan, the first one will never come out right no matter how skilled you are.

For Masala Dosa (and a bonus Coconut Chutney) you will need the following:

For the batter:
Rice                              2 cup
Urad dal                        1 cup
Fenugreek seeds            1 tsp
Salt                               to taste

Note: You can get a dosa mix practically everywhere, so if I were you, I'd save myself some effort (and several hours) and just buy that.

For the masala:
Potatoes                        3-4 medium
Mustard seeds               1-2 tsp
Onion                            1 medium
Turmeric powder            1 tsp
Red chilli powder            1/2 tsp
Green chillies                 2-3
Curry leaves                   5-6
Salt                               to taste

For the chutney:
Fresh grated coconut       1-2 cups (or dessicated if you don't have any fresh coconut)
Green chillies                  2-3
Coriander leaves             small handful
Mustard seeds                 1-2 tsp
Salt                                to taste
Water                             splash

Prep:
Batter:

1. Wash and soak the rice, dal and fenugreek seeds in cold water.
2. Wait several hours.
3. Drain the water and grind the mixture to a fine texture (adding water until you have a batter-y consistency).
4. Empty the contents into a large bowl. (Make sure there is room in the bowl for the batter to rise.)
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Leave overnight.

OR

1. Open the instant mix packet.
2. Follow the instructions on the back of the box.
3. Add salt to taste.

Masala:

1. Boil the potatoes.
2. Thinly slice the onion.
3. Chop the chillies.
4. Once the potatoes are done, allow them a few minutes to cool, peel them, then roughly mash them.

Method:
Dosa:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Crank it up to high.
3. Bung on the tava/pan.
4. Ladle on a dollop of the batter in the center of the pan and spread it out with the ladle using an outward-moving circular motion.
5. Fail miserably.
6. Drizzle some oil on the edges of the dosa.
7. Wait for the batter to cook. (You can monitor this by sliding a spatula under it to see if the colour is a nice not too dark brown.)
8. Flip the dosa over for a few seconds.
9. Slide onto a plate.
10. Bump the gas to low.
11. Wipe the pan with a damp cloth.
12. Ladle on another dollop and spread it.
13. Improve with each dosa.
14. Repeat steps 6 to 12 until all the batter has been used up.
15. Turn the gas off.

Masala:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Toss in the mustard seeds.
5. Watch them bounce.
6. Float in the curry leaves.
7. Throw in the chillies. 
8. Slide in the onion.
9. Cook until the onions are translucent. (Also, you don't want to burn the mustard seeds else they'll get all bitter and gross.)
10. Add in the potatoes.
11. Mix well trying your hardest to not let the potatoes spill out of the pan.
12. Lose.
13. Pick up the spilled potatoes and toss them back into the pan.
14. Sprinkle on the turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt.
15. Mix well.
16. Cook for a minute or two until the turmeric is cooked. (Else you'll be able to taste it separately.)
17. Turn the gas off.

Chutney:

1. Toss the coconut into a grinder.
2. Throw in the chillies.
3. Throw in the coriander.
4. Sprinkle in the salt.
5. Grind the living crap out of the mixture. (Keep adding water to maintain the desired consistency.)
6. Spoon mixture out into a bowl.
7. Turn on the gas.
8. Splash in some oil.
9. Throw in the mustard seeds.
10. Cook for about 30 seconds.
11. Turn off the gas.
12. Mix with the contents of the bowl.

Assembly & Serving:

1. Lay some of the masala onto the dosa and fold/roll it over.
2. Serve with sambar and chutney.
3. Stuff face.
4. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Use a big flat tava/pan for the dosas. You will get better with time. It took me ages to make my dosas look like dosas and not the massacred mess I first started doling out.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!

Confused Sambar

Hello boys and girls!

Welcome to a fresh edition of cooking with Varun! So far, we've focused on lunch and dinner, and even dabbled with dessert and breakfast (I know, I know.. you're thinking, 'What else is there?'). Today we'll focus on a dish that sits well in all of the above (except dessert) and you might even be able to squeeze it in with a snack or ten. I speak of course of, sambar! Whether you eat it with fluffy idlis or crispy medu vadas or light, thin dosas or loaded utthapams or even the old staple rice, sambar is more than just a supporting act. It's the bedrock of our most favourite south Indian meals and is loved universally.

Remember how I said several blogs ago that we'd eventually cook north Indian fare pretending to be south Indian? Well, this is a prime example. Sambar has many variants depending on which part of the country you're eating in. Sambar in Bangalore tastes different from its counterpart in Hyderabad, which in turn varies in flavour and texture from its Chennai cousin, which is very different from its north Indian adaptation (well, you get the picture!). The sambar we are making today is the north Indian version (hence the 'Confused'). It will differ in consistency and texture from it's southern cousin but you should still find most of the same underlying flavours. Once you have mastered the art of making a decent sambar, its accompaniments are a mere stone's throw away and soon your favourite Udipi restaurant will be wondering what has happened to it's most loyal customer.

For Confused Sambar, you will need the following:

Toor dal                               1 cup
Onions                                 2 medium
Tomato                                1 large
Drumsticks                           2
Bottle gourd (lauki)              1/2
Haldi (turmeric) powder       1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder                  1 tsp
Sambar powder                    2-3 tsps
Mustard seeds                      1 tbsp
Dried red chillies                   2
Curry leaves                         tiny handful
Tamarind paste                    to taste 
Salt                                     to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Locate your pressure cooker.
2. Dump the dal in the cooker.
3. Rinse the dal 3-4 times with cold water.
4. Cut the drumstick into finger sized pieces.
5. Chop the tomato.
6. Slice the onion lengthwise (thickly).
7. Cut the lauki into cubes.
8. If you have dried tamarind, cut off a chunk and toss it in a bowl with some hot water.
9. Squeeze the juice out of the tamarind until the water goes brown, the tamarind seeds pop out and your fingers go numb.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung the cooker on.
3. Add water to the cooker so that the dal is submerged under at least 2 fingers of water.
4. Try and recollect what '2 fingers of water' means.
5. Think harder.
6. Successfully remember and add water. 
7. Sprinkle in the haldi and some salt.
8. Drop in the drumsticks, onions, tomatoes and lauki.
9. Put the lid on the cooker.
10. Crank the gas up to high.
11. Take a walk through the house as you wait for it to whistle.
12. Hurry to the kitchen as you hear the first whistle.
13. Turn another burner on.
14. Bung on a pan for the tadka.
15. Splash in some oil.
16. Count to 20 until the oil heats.
17. Prepare to add in the mustard seeds.
18. Jump as the second whistle startles you.
19. Gather up your scattered mustard seeds.
20. Add to the pan.
21. Add in the dried chillies and curry leaves.
22. Brace yourself for whistle #3.
23. Get hit with oil spatter because you were too busy bracing to grab a lid.
24. Curse and fumble with the lid.
25. Jump. (Yup. Whistle #3.)
26. Add in the chilli powder and sambar powder.
27. Cook for a minute.
28. Turn both burners off as you are greeted by whistle #4.
29. Take a 5 minute nap as the residual steam leaves the cooker.
30. Lift the weight on the cooker to make sure no more steam is trapped inside.
31. Open cooker.
32. Stick a wooden spoon in and mix the contents. (The veggies should be on the verge of melting at this point.)
33. Turn the cooker gas on.
34. Add in the tadka.
35. Add salt and tamarind to taste.
36. Simmer for a couple of minutes.
37. Turn gas off.
38. Serve with whatever you want to serve with.
39. Stuff face.
40. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: I personally prefer my sambar veggies melty. If you want them firm then add them just before the tadka and simmer until they are cooked. Also, feel free to add other veggies if you want.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!

Fried Fish Masala

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to a fishy edition of cooking with Varun! They say, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish you feed him for a lifetime'. This is wrong. Teach a man to fish and he spends all day on a boat bored to death. And that's just weekends! What man has the luxury to go fishing on weekdays? And even if he did, what would the missus say? It would lead to misunderstandings and insecurities and fights and an inevitable messy separation! Do you want that? Do you? Do you? Instead, just give him a tenner and tell him to pick some fillets up from the supermarket! Quicker, easier and far more practical. And it saves you from the post-gutting ichthyoidal odor!

Now, we've been focusing on vegetarian dishes over the past couple of weeks and I've received some complaints from my carnivorous followers that our beloved fauna (and whatever the term for fish is) aren't getting the attention they so richly deserve. Since it has become a tradition for me over the past few years to have at least once a week (Sundays are great), I figured I'd share another one of my fishy recipes for you to try which apart from being absolutely delicious is dead easy! This dish combines a rich, thick, flavourful masala with all the elements of a great pan fried fish to deliver a spicy kick that will satisfy even the fussiest of eaters.

For Fried Fish Masala you will need the following:

Fish	5 fillets of white fish (I recommend Atlantic Cod.)
Onions	2 medium to large
Tomatoes	1 large or 2 medium
Green chillies	2-3
Red chilli powder	2-3 tsp
Ginger garlic paste	1-2 tsp
Dhaniya (coriander) powder	2tsp
Fish masala powder	1 tsp (Optional. Just a little extra flavour.)
Amchoor (dried mango)	1/2 tsp
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Defrost (if you have frozen fish) & cut the fillets into halves.
2. Lay the fish out on a board.
3. Sprinkle on some salt, red chilli powder, dhaniya powder, fish masala powder, amchoor and ginger garlic paste.
4. Massage into the fillets.
5. Flip the fillets over and repeat. (Use the surplus mixture on the board.)
6. Grind the onions.
7. Blend the tomatoes.
8. Chop the chillies.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20 as the oil heats.
5. Slide in the fish.
6. Immediately be spattered with flying oil.
7. Wait until the spattering subsides.
8. Rub the smarting, splashed area as you wait. 
9. Cook for a couple of minutes. (Keep checking on the fish as you cook! Don't take 2 minutes for granted or you might end up scraping burned fish off the bottom of the pan!)
10. Flip the fish over to cook the other side. 
11. Grab a plate.
12. Put a couple of tissues down.
13. Once the fish is cooked, slide the fish onto the tissue covered plate to suck up excess oil.
14. Turn off the gas.
15. Fish out the fish bits from the pan. (See what I did there?)
16. Splash in some more oil. (If there isn't enough in the pan already.)
17. Arm yourself with the lid for the pan.
18. Take a deep calming breath.
19. Put in the onions and chillies.
20. Slap the lid on.
21. Say, 'Hah!' to the pan on foiling it's diabolical onion water spattering plan!
22. Realize that there isn't any spattering.
23. Scratch head.
24. Kick yourself for not turning the burner back on.
25. Turn the gas on.
26. Wait as the oil heats up with the onions.
27. Notice there is little or no spatter.
28. Mental note for future reference.
29. Cook the onions until very brown.
30. Add in the chilli red powder and ginger garlic paste.
31. Mix.
32. Add in the pureed tomatoes to deglaze the pan.
33. Add in the rest of the dry powders.
34. Cook until the oil separates from the tomatoes.
35. Add in a half cup of water.
36. Put the lid on.
37. Cook for about 5 minutes.
38. Take the lid off.
39. Watch the puff of steam rise from the pan to the ceiling.
40. Dry the excess water out.
41. Put your fish in.
42. Mix gently without breaking the fish.
43. Count down a minute.
44. Turn off gas.
45. Serve with rotis or rice.
46. Stuff face.
47. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: If you are fortunate enough to own two pans and can multitask, do the fish and the masala in parallel. That way your fish will not be soggy when you put it in the masala. 

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!