Wadi Aloo

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! Remember when you were little (some of you may have to think farther back than the others.. it's okay.. I'll wait) and you used to play games like, 'I declare the war against..', 'P-O-L-O', 'Freeze & Melt', among others? When we were younger (so much younger than today), a bunch of us friends would meet in the evenings, generally after a day of cricket or football, and sit around our housing society and chill until the ants in our pants got us up and going again. Given that it was too dark to play a ball game (not that we didn't try), we'd play these games to keep ourselves occupied until it was time to head home for dinner.

One of my favourite games to play was hide and seek. Now now, don't shake your head, it wasn't your average run of the mill game, it was cutthroat and competitive. More often than not, a scapegoat would be wordlessly agreed upon and set up to be the denner or 'it' (I'd say seeker but then I'd start thinking of Quidditch.. With the chasers, and the beaters, and the bludgers, and how Gryffindor won the cup..). The poor boy (I won't lie, I've been that boy on several occasions) would count while the rest shamelessly smashed all the defined hiding boundaries and ventured far and wide leaving the poor bloke wondering where everyone had gone. From jumping into people's backyards, swapping shirts, and climbing trees, everything was fair game! There was an incident when my best (and rather chubby) friend, Parsi Drama Queen, shinned up the tree directly above the denner's spot hoping to hop down quickly and save the first person found, when instead, the branch he was sitting on decided it had had enough and broke clean off, bringing him crashing to the ground in a tangle of wood, leaves, flowers, and person, and he smacked his ankle on the railing below, resulting in 3 hairline fractures on the same bone. Another time, Parsi Drama Queen was the first to be found and did not want to be the denner, but with everyone else found except me, he took to shouting pleas of rescue (and threats if I failed). I was crouched in the bushes not far from the denner's spot, where the denner, my friend, Mr. Missed Call, was hovering, licking his lips at the prospect of liberation, when I started creeping towards the spot to make my rescue. Hearing the rustle of the leaves,  Mr. Missed Call's ears pricked up and he came to investigate. It was dark and the bushes were rather thick so he squinted his eyes to try to see better, when in my panic to not get found, I did the first thing that came to my head. I mewed. Like a cat. Loudly. Mr. Missed Call stopped in his tracks, looking rather puzzled until I mewed again (rather piteously this time) and miraculously, he thought that there really was a cat in the bushes and turned to look elsewhere. Spotting my window, I leaped heroically out of the bushes, rushed to the spot, slammed the 'save' in and rescued Parsi Drama Queen. As Mr. Missed Call's groans of pure angst echoed off the walls, I stood tall (all 4 feet of me) and relished my victory (and Parsi Drama Queen's dialogues of adoration).

Not unlike hide and seek, which is a favourite childhood game, this is a recipe to one of my favourite childhood dishes. Eaten with piping hot jeera rice, to me, there are few dishes that can even hope to give it any competition for a Saturday lunch.

For my Wadi Aloo, you will need the following:

Wadi	2-3 pieces (available in most Indian stores the world over)
Potatoes	2 large (or 3 medium)
Onion	1 large (or 2 medium)
Tomatoes	1 large (or 1 1/2 medium)
Tomato pureé	shot
Red chilli powder	2-3 tsp
Coriander powder	3-4 tsp
Jeera powder	1-2 tsp
Yoghurt	2 tsp
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Quarter the potatoes. (Or cut them into 6 pieces depending on their size.)
2. Blitz the onion.
3. Blitz the tomatoes.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pressure cooker on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20.
5. Spoon in the onion.
6. Step back until the hissing dies down.
7. Drop in the wadis.
8. Break the wadis into smaller pieces after they've softened a smidge.
9. Mix.
10. Cook until the onion is brown.
11. Throw in the chilli powder, coriander powder, and jeera powder.
12. Mix well.
13. Pour in the blitzed tomatoes.
14. Mix.
15. Cook until the oil separates from the mixture.
16. Add in the shot of tomato puree.
17. Plop in the potatoes.
18. Add in the yoghurt. 
19. Sprinkle in the salt.
20. Mix.
21. Add in a cup of water.
22. Slap the lid on.
23. Crank the burner up to high.
24. Wait for 1 whistle. (More than that and your potatoes will be mush!)
25. Daydream.
26. Snap out of it as the cooker starts to whistle.
27. Drop the heat to low.
28. Wait 15 seconds.
29. Turn the cooker off.
30. Wait until the steam leaves the cooker.
31. Open the lid.
32. Take a deep breath.
33. Cough.
34. Adjust the gravy if you need to. (Add i or dry off water.)
35. Serve with jeera rice.
36. Stuff face.
37. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: If you don't have a pressure cooker, try par boiling the potatoes before adding them into the masala and then simmer until they are cooked all the way through.

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

Orange & Ginger Shrimp

Hello, boys and girls,

Welcome to cooking with Varun! In the summer of 2015 I was in Istanbul and let me start by saying, it is a beautiful city. Big and sprawling, with a gorgeous view of the Bosphorous strait, and absolutely teeming with people. Countless mosques dot its skyline and a constant stream of traffic can be seen crossing it's many bridges, most notably, the  Bosphorous bridge that connects Europe to Asia. It also has some wonderful museums and a superb nightlife that found me partying until the early hours of the morning on more than a few occasions!

I landed on a sunny Sunday afternoon, very excited to be in a new place, and got a cab from Ataturk airport to my hotel in Taksim. After checking-in, I took a quick shower and did what I do best, get out and explore. Luckily, I had had the foresight to request a colleague to come and show me around the first day, because I didn't want to end up lost in an unfamiliar place where English isn't the primary language. My colleague (now friend), an affable Turkish girl, collected me from the hotel and took me around. We crossed Taksim square (Taksim meydani) and walked down the crowded Istiklal street (to call it a beehive of activity would be an understatement). With countless restaurants, retail stores, hawkers, and buskers on either side, not to forget the old tram running down the middle cheerfully jingling it's bell, parting the river of humanity, I couldn't decide which way to look! As we navigated our way through the throng of people, my friend, Ms. Technically Gifted Rebel, led us to an Irish bar where we sat for a bit and had a couple of drinks and talked a bit to get to know each other better. We then meandered over to Cihangir where we ducked into a hole in the wall restaurant, climbed up a narrow stairway to the seating area, and I had my first taste of authentic Turkish food. We tucked into some lahmacun, and pide and made our way back to Taksim through little streets packed with the fattest cats you ever saw! I lived in Britain and my landlady had 2 proper fat cats, but these strays could have given them a serious waddle for their money! On the way back, we passed a little Chinese takeaway place, that unbeknownst to me at the time, would become a staple dinner joint for me, to the extent that I would sneak food into my hotel (outside food was forbidden in the hotel) in a variety of bags as I waltzed through the lobby trying to look nonchalant, breathing easily only once I'd reached the sanctuary of my room.

Today's recipe is quick and easy Chinese takeaway style dish that you can eat with both, noodles, and fried rice.

For my Orange and Ginger Shrimp, you will need the following:

Shrimp/Prawns	300 gms
Green peppers (capsicum)	1
Onion	1
Carrot	1
Green chillies	2-3
Garlic	2 cloves
Ginger	thumb sized piece
Chicken stock cubes	2
Orange juice	1 cup (freshly squeezed would be great!)
Cornflour	1 tbsp
Orange zest	1 tsp
Salt	to taste
Soy sauce
Vinegar
Oil

Prep:

1. Grab a fine grater.
2. Hold the unpeeled orange against it.
3. Lightly scrape until the peel starts coming off. (Stop when you can see the white bit under the orange skin. That bit is bitter.)
4. Move the orange around to another bit.
5. Continue until you have enough zest.
6. Mince the garlic.
7. Mince the ginger.
8. Cut the green pepper into large cubes.
9. Slice the onion into big pieces.
10. Thinly slice the carrot
11. Dissolve the stock cubes in 2 cups of water.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan/wok on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Slide in the chillies.
5. Toss in the garlic.
6. Toss in the ginger.
7. Cook until the garlic and garlic start to brown slightly.
8. Pour in the stock.
9. Pour in the orange juice.
10. Splash in the soy sauce. (As dark as you want it.)
11. Splash in some vinegar.
12. Mix.
13. Decide you want more sauce/gravy.
14. Add in a cup of water.
15. Splash in some more soy sauce to fix the colour.
16. Add in the carrots, peppers, and onions.
17. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
18. Grab a cup.
19. Add in a tbsp of cornflour.
20. Add in some cold water and mix.
21. Add the mixture a little at a time to the pan to thicken the sauce.
22. Shake in the orange zest.
23. Simmer for a few minutes.
24. Pop in the shrimp/prawns. 
25. Cook until the shrimp/prawns are plump and pink. (If you had the precooked ones, you'll only need a couple of minutes.)
26. Turn the gas off.
27. Serve with fried rice or noodles.
28. Stuff face.
29. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Don't add the zest in early, it gets really bitter.

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

Chilli Chicken

Hello boys and girls!

Welcome to an exciting edition of cooking with Varun! I was going through my posts the other day and I noticed that while we have seen a lot of Indian dishes and a couple of continental ones, we haven't seen much of other cusines. Now, if you're like me, you probably get tired of eating the same cuisine over and over and jump at the chance to eat something different.

People often ask me what my favourite cuisine is, and that's a pretty tough question to answer seeing as each cuisine has something different to offer and you can't really compare. I mean, think about it, how do you compare idli sambar to bacon and eggs? The way I look at it, I just think of food that I can eat at any time, any number of times without getting sick of it. And few things have the right combination of spice, meat, veggies and gravy than Chinese food. Granted, you get hungry within a half hour of putting away a big plate of Chinese food, but hey, what's stopping you getting a refill or ten?

It's no secret that I'm from India, but I've travelled a fair amount as part of my job and have sampled both local and Chinese food in several countries and I have to say, Chinese food in India is so much better in terms of flavour and spice. I don't mean the 'thela' variety, because let's face it, that is in a separate class altogether, but even the local restaurants (although I'll admit, this is, in part, to my Indian palate).

Today's dish is a chilli chicken that walks the fine line between authentic and Indian Chinese food and delivers a very pleasing combination of flavours. It takes a little effort, but the payoff is worth it. So without further ado, off to the recipe!

For Chilli Chicken you will need the following:

Chicken                                        500 gms (boneless if you can wangle it)

Green peppers (capsicum)             1

Onion                                           1

Green chillies                                10

Garlic                                           4 cloves

Chicken stock cubes                       2

Cornflour                                       1 cup

Egg                                               1

Salt                                               to taste

Soy sauce

Vinegar

Oil

Prep:

1. Wash and cut the chicken into cubes.
2. Grab a bowl.
3. Drop in the chicken.
4. Add in enough cornflour to coat the chicken.
5. Beat the egg and add to the bowl.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Mix well until the chicken is coated with the cornflour and egg.
8. Vertically slice the chillies.
9. Mince the garlic.
10. Cut the green pepper into large cubes.
11. Slice the onion into big pieces.
12. Dissolve the stock cubes in 2 cups of water.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20.
5. Drop in a chicken piece.
6. Wince as the splashing oil hits your skin.
7. Fry the chicken until golden.
8. Scoop out the chicken and place on a plate. (You can put a bit of kitchen roll or a serviette on the plate to absorb any surplus oil.)
9. Repeat for the rest of the chicken pieces. (You can add more than one piece at a time.)
10. Turn the gas off.
11. Put the pan away.
12. Turn on a bigger burner (or the same one if you want).
13. Bung a wok (or a deep pan or kadhai) on.
14. Splash in some oil.
15. Count to 20.
16. Slide in the chillies.
17. Toss in the garlic.
18. Cook until the garlic starts to brown slightly.
19. Pour in the stock.
20. Splash in the soy sauce. (As dark as you want it.)
21. Splash in some vinegar.
22. Mix.
23. Decide you want more sauce/gravy.
24. Add in a cup of water.
25. Splash in some more soy sauce to get the colour right.
26. Add in the peppers and onions.
27. Cook for a couple of minutes.
28. Add in the chicken.
29. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
30. Realize the sauce is too runny.
31. Grab a cup.
32. Add in a tbsp of cornflour.
33. Add in some cold water and mix.
34. Add the mixture a little at a time to the chicken to thicken the sauce.
35. Simmer for a few minutes.
36. Turn the gas off.
37. Serve with fried rice or noodles. (If you don't know how to make them, wait for a bit and I'll post the recipe!)
38. Stuff face.
39. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: If you want this dish starter-esque, then skip the stock. Also, you will notice there's no salt in the recipe. This is because the soy sauce and the vinegar are already salty.

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