Sooji Ki Kheer

Hello boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! One of the best things about school, not counting the hours of academic training on things I haven't seen or heard since I graduated the place, was the food. From trading my short break dabba with my mate because I preferred namkeen over jam sandwiches, to rushing to lunch the second the bell rang to eat at least 3 of the 6 pavs from my pav bhaji lunch before the rest of the boys raided it, to running to Hite Bar for the shawarma and the burgers, school was nothing short of a food fest and that doesn't even include all the picnics and the scouts camps!

I remember, as part of scouts, we had games and tasks every Saturday (we also had other boring sessions, but I don't pretend to remember those). One of these tasks was cooking. That's right, 40 13 year old boys with sticks to light a fire, a bunch of ingredients and a dream. A dream to cook up a storm in 3 hours in the shadow of the (often monkey infested) very large shady trees that skirted a section of the sizeable circumference of the school playground. Our 10 man patrol's very ambitious menu was masala stuffed bhindi, chole, fried rice and sooji ki kheer. Now if you've been following this blog you'll know that these aren't the hardest things in the world to cook but swap your cooktop for a tiny burner and a not-hot-enough bonfire, your smartphone with hastily scribbled hand written notes and your kitchen for a dusty playing ground and things get slightly more complicated. Throw in 10 inexperienced cooks into the mix and the ensuing melee is something you won't soon forget!

Things started off well enough.. we allocated tasks to people and got on with it and were going along swimmingly until we were randomly inspected by the scouts master who discovered that the chole we had got were pre-boiled and the veggies were pre-chopped. Not good. After getting an earful for our pre-session efforts, our 3 hour cooking time was dropped to 2. So while the other 3 patrols were going about their merry way, we were in a blind panic. But being the resourceful little ticks that we were, we smashed it with 10 minutes to spare and decided (unfortunately) to taste the results of our labour. Bad idea. The food was about 12 times better than we thought it would be. My fluke bhindi in particular was a massive hit and got passed around more times than a spliff at a hippie bonfire until we realized we had to save some for the scouts masters to be judged! After much grumbling, we managed to set a plate or two apart for the masters and sat there in the grass watching people's ingenius attempts at making jelly using a big hole in the ground and an ice and salt freezing mixture (which worked btw.. it was incredible!) as we waited for the stipulated 3 hours to run out. It was close, but we edged out the jelly boys for the win and as we reveled in the glory of our win, Moti, the PT instructors mongrel, stuck his head into the big patila of sooji ki kheer and gave himself a sugar rush. We couldn't eat it after that, but we'd had our fill and we had the win. The diem had been carpeid.

Today's recipe is a slightly more expert version of the kheer that Moti so happily lapped up and it goes like this..

For Sooji Ki Kheer, you will need the following:

Sooji (semolina)                                   1 cup

Milk                                                     1 litre

Sugar                                                   8-10 tsp

Almonds                                               small handful

Raisins                                                 small handful

Kesar (saffron)                                     a small strand or two (optional)

Cardamoms                                          5

Prep:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Drop the heat to low.
3. Bung a pan on.
4. Shake in the sooji.
5. Toast it until light brown. (You'll smell the toasty goodness!)
6. Roughly chop the almonds.
7. Soak the kesar strands in a few drops of warm milk.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a heavy bottomed pan on.
3. Pour in the milk.
4. Drop in the cardamoms.
5. Watch the milk like a hawk until it boils. (I mean it, you blink too long and you'll have a overflowing milky mess to clean up!)
6. Drop the heat to low.
7. Slowly add in the toasted sooji. (Stir continuously to avoid lumps.)
8. Once all the sooji is in, crank the heat up a notch.
9. Add in the sugar.
10. Cook for 10-15 minutes. (Stir periodically to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.)
11. Toss in the chopped almonds.
12. Plop in the raisins.
13. Add in the kesar.
14. Cook for a few minutes.
15. Turn the gas off.
16. You can either serve this hot or chilled. (Anything in between is just wrong!)
17. Stuff face.
18. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: I prefer this cold. Makes a great dessert after a heavy meal.

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

Prawn Pulao

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! March, every year, I give myself a birthday gift. In 2014,  I treated myself to an 8 day vacation in Spain and Portugal. 8 days of sangria, tapas, margaritas, paella, seafood and beer. I tell myself each trip is about experiencing a new place; a tick in the long list of countries to visit, another beer tried, another loo visited, another hotel bed crashed in, maybe even another turnstile jumped. But I think I kid myself sometimes. While these are all reasons why I love to travel, the most important is the food that the place has to offer. It doesn't even have to be food that is native to the country. It's the local spin on global food that makes it so great. Much like Indo-Chinese or a tandoori chicken pizza. Heck, I've even had a haggis burrito!

This trip in particular had a lot of food. You see, most days, breakfast is toast and eggs, lunch is a sandwich and dinner is a reasonably indulgent affair. But on vacation, every meal is huge! And that's not counting the little meals in between, and the gelatos, and the churros, and the hot dogs. This trip was (unsurprisingly) Spanish and Portuguese food along with some fantastic Mexican, some superb Chinese and excellent Italian worth writing home about!

The first night in Barcelona, after a big dinner of tapas, mussels, seafood paella and a bit too much sangria, found my friends and I on Catalunya square doing the 'Insanity' workout. As we powered through the power knees and twisted through the globe jumps, our slightly unfocused eyes were greeted (not for the first time) at 2 very blonde girls running towards us squealing as they asked us what we were doing and if they could try too. Not being the kind to turn down a polite request, we agreed and what ensued was 4 people promoting Shaun T at the head of the famous La Rambla! But I digress, today's recipe, although not Spanish, has fresh seafood and rice and enough heat to send you jetting off to find some sangria to put out the fire!

For Prawn Pulao, you will need the following:

Prawns	500 gms. (shelled and de-veined)
Rice	2 cups
Onions	2 medium
Tomatoes	1 medium
Green chillies	3
Cardamom pods	4
Cloves	4
Bayleaf	1
Coriander powder	2 tsp
Red chilli powder	3 tsp
Jeera (cumin) powder	2 tsp
Garam masala	1 tsp
Coconut milk	1 cup
Ginger garlic paste	1 tsp
Lemon	2
Peppercorns	small handful
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Slice the onions.
2. Chop the chillies.
3. Chop the tomatoes.
4. Rinse the rice with cold water 3-4 times.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan/kadhai on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20.
5. Float in the bayleaf.
6. Pop in the cardamom pods.
7. Drop in the cloves.
8. Bounce in the peppercorns.
9. Cook for a minute until the oil gets perfumed with the whole spices.
10. Slide in the onions.
11. Add in the chillies.
12. Cook until the onions are translucent.
13. Put in the ginger garlic paste.
14. Avoid the spatter as the wet paste hits the hot oil.
15. Cook until slightly brown.
16. Add in the coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and garam masala.
17. Mix.
18. Cook for a couple of minutes.
19. Add in the tomatoes.
20. Cook until the oil separates from the tomatoes.
21. Scoop in the rice.
22. Add in 3 cups of water and a cup of coconut milk.
23. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon.
24. Plop in the prawns.
25. Add salt to taste.
26. Mix.
27. Drop the heat to low.
28. Pop a lid on.
29. Let it cook for about 20 mins until the water has all gone and the rice is cooked.
30. Turn the gas off.
31. Garnish with chopped coriander and mint leaves.
32. Serve with raita.
33. Stuff face.
34. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Fresh prawns > Frozen prawns

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

Vada Pav

Hello boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! You know how people claim to have one true love? Well, unsurprisingly, my one true love is a food item. A snack really. A snack native to the part of India I come from. A snack that makes me look forward to trips back home almost as much as I look forward to seeing my folks. Vada pav. Spicy, garlicky potatoes, dipped into a batter of gram flour and fried until golden and crisp. Wrapped up in a soft pav. Accompanied by a garlic or groundnut chutney and fried salted green chillies.. xfgfsgdfsgdvc gsgyfrtsa (excuse the gibberish.. that was caused by an involuntary shudder of longing!)

From eating them in a park with my friends with a can of Limca after a scouts meeting to sticking my hands out through the window bars of the Poona - Bombay train at Karjat station to buying some from the dingiest, most dodgy looking thelas or even lining up outside the canteen at school, my stories of vada pav love are infinite. Not a week goes by without me thinking, 'I'm hungry.. If only I could get a vada pav or 6!'. But alas, the UK does not have vada pav.. so I just do the next best thing.. Make it myself.

The unfortunate bit is, the last time I made them, I made the mistake of tossing a whole chilli into the frying oil without slitting it. The result: exploding chilli. The outcome: frying ban imposed by my landlady! But after months of not so patient waiting, she's going away on vacation for a couple of weeks so unless she reads this while she's on vacation and calls to admonish me, it's vada pav time baby!

On to the recipe now!

For my Vada Pav, you will need the following:

Potatoes	3-4 medium to large
Garlic	3-4 cloves
Green chillies	several
Mustard seeds	3 tsp
Haldi (turmeric) powder	2 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Ajwain (carom seeds)	pinch
Besan (gram flour)	1 cup
Salt	to taste
Oil
Pav (small soft white rolls)
Garlic/groundnut chutney

Prep: 

Potatoes:

1. Boil the potatoes. (2-3 whistles in the pressure cooker should do it.)
2. Let the potatoes cool.
3. Peel and roughly mash them.
4. Chop 3 chillies.
5. Peel and chop the garlic cloves.
6. Slit the remaining chillies (to serve).

Batter:

1. Slowly add water to the gram flour and mix until you have a nice batter. (Try and work out the lumps as best you can.)
2. Sprinkle in some salt.
3. Toss in the ajwain.
4. Mix.

Method:

Potatoes:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20.
5. Bounce in the mustard seeds.
6. Slide in the chopped chillies.
7. Add in the garlic.
8. Cook for a minute.
9. Add in the haldi and the red chilli powder.
10. Wait a couple of minutes until the masalas are cooked.
11. Add in the (almost) mashed potatoes.
12. Mix well until the potatoes are a uniform sunset yellow.
13. Salt to taste.
14. Cook for a couple of minutes.
15. Turn the gas off.
16. Wait 5 minutes until the potatoes cool a little.
17. Roll the potato mix into equal sized balls.
18. Slightly flatten them by pressing on them. 

Vadas:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan/kadhai on.
3. Splash in the oil. (Enough to deep fry or almost deep fry.)
4. Wait a couple of minutes until the oil is hot. (You can check by dripping in some of the batter to see how quickly it fries.)
5. Dunk a potato ball into the batter to coat it.
6. Slide it into the hot oil.
7. Sidestep the splashes.
8. Fry until dark golden.
9. Fish out the vada.
10. Shake off the excess oil into the pan.
11. Place on a tissue covered plate to absorb the remaining excess oil.
12. Repeat until all the vadas are ready.
13. Slide in the slit full chillies for about 30-45 seconds.
14. Fish them out onto a plate.
15. Sprinkle some salt on them.

To serve:

1. Cut open a pav.
2. Sprinkle in some garlic or groundnut chutney. (Store-bought is fine.)
3. Place the vada inside.
4. Serve with the fried salted chillies.
5. Stuff face.
6. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Dunk sliced onions into the leftover batter and fry to make some wicked onion pakoras!

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