Sour Cream & Dill Dip

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun. Back in September 2013, my friends and I made a trip to Durdle Door, in the south of England. I made the trip down to my friends' home in Southampton from Solihull, and another friend came down from Sheffield. From there, we rented a car and drove to the famous limestone arch.

We left in the morning and after about an hour and a half, we arrived at our destination. It was a lovely sunny day, deceptively warm for September, as we stood in the bright sunshine and drank in the glorious view from the top of the cliff. The beach stretched out below us, the water was a beautiful blue, and only a few people dotted the landscape. We began our journey down to the pebble beach and then to find a spot to set up our little picnic. We put our bags down, spread our sheet out, and plonked ourselves on the stones and gazed at the arch across the 50m stretch of ocean that separated us from it (but not before we had numbed our toes by testing the water). As we sat there, we heard squealing and splashing and turned to see a group of people a little further down on our right who had actually gone into the water for a swim. Not to be outdone, my friend, Mr. Back-Of-The-Net stood up and announced that he was going for a swim too and that we should join him. We agreed (albeit reluctantly) and I borrowed a pair of shorts from him and went to change hurriedly behind a big bush lest someone at the top of the cliff happen to look down and be greeted by the sight of the sun shining off my bare bottom. Knowing that the water was colder than my wife's feet in a warm bed, the only way I was getting in was with a running start. So I took a few steps back, ran, and leaped in. For the first 2 or 3 seconds, nothing happened; then the pain started. Pain like I had never experienced before. It felt like my entire body was simultaneously on fire and being stabbed by thousands of needles. I knew then that I had 2 choices. The smart choice, to get out, dry off, put on my heaviest jumper and drink something hot. The not so smart choice, to stay in there and swim around until my body got used to the cold and the pain subsided. Needless to say, I'm not a smart guy. I stayed, and for the next few minutes bade farewell to my extremities as the cold slowly took away all feeling. Then as quickly as it had started to fade, I started to get feeling back in my limbs and we did the most logical thing we could think of. We swam farther in. Towards the arch until we reached the base. At this point we were feeling pretty good about ourselves so instead of turning around and swimming back to the shore, we reached out, grabbed a hold of the rocky arch, hauled ourselves out of the water and proceeded to climb it. We scaled the rocky face for about 15 feet and with no way to really climb back down, dove back into the chilly water. It didn't sting nearly as much this time and we made it back to the beach without incident. We dried off, changed, and wrapped ourselves in our warmest coats and proceeded to wolf down the food we'd carried. After we had eaten our fill, we made the trek back up to the parking lot stopping only to eat an ice-cream on the way.

While that dip in the ocean probably wasn't the best choice we made, whipping up this dip certainly is. And it involves no cooking!

For my Sour Cream & Dill Dip, you will need the following:

Sour cream	2 cups
Mustard	2 tsp
Dill leaves	2 big handfuls
Salt	to taste

Prep:

1. Chop up the dill leaves.

Method:

1. Grab a bowl.
2. Plop in the sour cream.
3. Spoon in the mustard.
4. Throw in the dill leaves.
5. Pinch in salt to taste.
6. Mix well.
7. Serve with pretty much anything. (Heavenly with Potato Wedges!)
8. Stuff face.
9. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dip.

Tip: Adjust the proportion and type of mustard based on your preference. I've used a few different types, and I've not been disappointed.

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

Salmon & Spinach Pulao

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun. If Salman Khan were a fish, would his fish name be Salmon Khan? Probably not. But then again.. who knows?

When I was little, I spent a lot of time at the home of my best friend, Parsi Drama Queen. We'd play trump cards, video games (Contra ftw!), watch movies, he'd cook, I'd eat, and then we'd go back to playing. Parsi Drama Queen had (and still has) a penchant for cats. Over the years he has played mother to several kittens, and oddly enough, a lot of them have had a letter of the alphabet on their person. I distinctly remember a cat with a 'T' and another with a 'V' on its forehead (no he did not name the V-cat after me). Another thing Parsi Drama Queen liked when we were young was water. He loved the rain and most times when it was raining heavily he could be found outside in his house running around in his kasti and underwear with a bottle and plastic bags, trying to catch fish. The way our housing society was designed, the section he lived in was separated from the rest of the complex by a little road, and way back in the '90s, when there weren't as many buildings around, there used to be a pond of sorts behind the boundary wall of his section. When it rained heavily, the pond would overflow and water would get in through a little grate at the base of the wall and flood the entire walkway in about ankle-deep water. While it was inconvenient for the adults, for us kids, it was like a splashing pool and we'd spend hours playing in the water, trying to get tadpole like fish through the mouth of our flimsy plastic bottles so we could keep them as pets. One time, Parsi Drama Queen had a cold and was not allowed to play in the rain, so he sat home with T-cat and sulked in protest. It was on this day, that a fairly large catfish managed to get through the grate and ended up stranding itself in the corner of the storm drain. As it lay there, contemplating its life decisions and the series of unfortunate events that resulted in it ending up in the only dry bit of land around, I happened to spot it, fished it out, and marched over to Parsi Drama Queen's house with it as an offering to T-cat in the hopes that it would bring an end to his sulking. His eyes lit up as he saw me coming, and more so when he saw the fish, but his glee quickly faded as T-cat took one look at the fish and flounced away completely disinterested. It was only then that we noticed that the fish was still 'breathing', and so I returned it to its storm drain (in the water this time) and it continued its adventure to drains previously unexplored.

This recipe, does not require you to go fishing in storm drains in your underwear (although more power to you if you want to), but will still leave you with the same sense of accomplishment once its finished.

For my Salmon & Spinach Pulao, you will need the following:

Salmon	300 gm (I usually take the skin off)
Spinach	250 gm
Rice	3 cups
Onions	2 medium
Tomatoes	2 medium
Green chillies	3
Cardamom pods	4
Cloves	4
Bayleaf	1
Coriander powder	2-3 tsp
Red chilli powder	3 tsp
Jeera (cumin) powder	2 tsp
Garam masala	2 tsp
Biryani masala	2-3 tsp (optional)
Ginger garlic paste	1-2 tsp
Lemon	1
Peppercorns	small handful
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Slice the onions.
2. Chop the chillies.
3. Chop the tomatoes.
4. Wash and roughly chop the spinach.
5. 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, garam masala and the biryani powder.
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 6 cups of water.
23. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon.
24. Plonk in the salmon.
25. Pop in the spinach.
26. Add salt to taste.
27. Mix.
28. Drop the heat to low.
29. Pop a lid on.
30. Let it cook for about 20 mins until the water has all gone and the rice is cooked.
31. Turn the gas off.
32. Garnish with coriander leaves.
33. Serve with raita.
34. Stuff face.
35. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: I usually stick the fish in the freezer for a bit before cooking. It makes it easier to get the skin off.

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