Anamika Bharti’s Zafrani Tangri Kebab

When I saw the recipe Anamika posted on one of the food groups we both are part of on Facebook, I knew it was for keeps. Just for its sheer simplicity, if nothing else. And the nothing else part I was soon to discover last evening, when we had these saffron-flavoured leg kebabs for dinner.

Anamika lives in Belarus, and has a natural affinity towards creating flavours and tastes close to her home and heart. Just to warm up the long, cold months of the country she lives in.

The star ingredient of Anamika’s Tangri Kebabs is Saffron. Saffron or Zafran or Kesar is divine. Few food ingredients can taste so distinct based on what we use it to make. But misuse of saffron is a crime. I have used saffron in both desserts and biryanis. And I must admit, its mellow, fragrant flavour bowls me out every time. There is also this strange feeling of romanticism attached to it.

Now coming back to Anamika’s Zafrani Tangri Kebabs, if you can, make it with dark meat – the legs and thigh portions of the chicken. That’s what she recommends too. Especially because those portions are more tender and succulent than white meat.

Ingredients for Anamika Bharti’s Zafrani Tangri Kebabs are:

12 chicken drumsticks, skinless and scored
1 cup juice of red onion (I pureed one large onion and dunked it on a sieve to let the juice drip on its own in a bowl)
Juice of one and half lemons
Quarter teaspoon loose saffron/zafran/kesar strands, crushed lightly
Canola or olive oil for basting
Salt

Marinate the chicken drumsticks with the juice of red onion, lemons, saffron, and salt. Let it stay in the fridge (on a hot day) for up to 8-12 hours. Bring the marinated drumsticks to room temperature before you barbecue or grill them.

The plan for me was to barbecue the Zafrani drumsticks, but things don’t always don’t go the way you want them to. So I ended up throwing these saffron-infused drumsticks on my grill pan.

Start by firing up your grill (or barbecue or gas tandoor), brush some oil on it and start by neatly lining up the marinated drumsticks. Shake off extra marinade from the legs.

Start turning the drumsticks as soon as they begin to get that beautiful char. Make sure you get that nice char on all sides. You may adjust the temperature of your grill once you have locked in all the juices. Baste with the liquid marinade and more oil if needed. It takes about 10-12 minutes of grilling to get the drumsticks ready.

Remove from the pan and let it stand for five minutes before you bit into a rock and roll of flavours. My husband called it “beautiful”. And he is a man of few words.

Thank you, Anamika Bharti. You are the muse and the mojo for this keepsake. To Zafran, Tangri Kebabs and more new recipes.

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

Soccer and BBC are two of his favorite things. I chose to make for him Chingri Maacher Malaikari and Ras Malai, his second set of favorites. Funny, how both dishes have the word “malai” in common.

And I served them in the bowls I made at Pottery School.

P has a bit of a sweet tooth, but he doesn’t admit it. But each time he digs into a bowl of Ras Malai, he reveals himself completely.

When he is in India, my husband can be seen frequently at Haldiram’s, completely surrendering himself to the charms of their Ras Malai. The creamy cheese dumplings floating in a sea of thick, creamy sauce of milk, saffron and pistachios. What man can resist such temptations. P does not even complain about calories then.

Another thing his knees go jelly about is Chingri Maacher Malaikari. Not only can he eat this Bengali classic anytime of the day, he can also cook it with equal aplomb.

The silky-satin texture of the coconut-based Shrimp Curry is worth missing a thousand meals in the restaurant on the eve of his birthday, he says. And I was only too obliging to my birthday boy!

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

This boy is my man, and that girl is his wife who did not get him a cake or a greeting card, just made him his homemade favorites for his birthday.

Waltzing to Mutton Rezala

The mutton trip continues. This time to the delicately-infused, silken taste of Mutton Rezala. Now, I am pretty fuzzy about the origin and history of this dish. Absolutely unsure if it has Mughlai or a North Indian roots. Or Bengali. Guessing by the way it is eaten with a lot of gusto by pandal-hopping Bengalis during Durga Puja. That reminds me to check with you if you have sent your entries for Beyond Five Days of Durga Puja?

The aromatic Mutton Rezala does not let me drift much and I am back to writing how I made this great, Indian mutton dish.

I did the marinating last night. I had almost forgotten to add the pureed onions and then a few minutes into a Skype chat with Mum to re-check on the recipe and I realized my culinary boo-boo.

Ingredients for Mutton Rezala are:

1 kg goat meat, bone in, cut into two inch pieces, as usual I opted for the shoulder portion of a baby goat
1 large red onion, pureed
1 cup plain yogurt (Balkan style)
5-6 fat cloves of garlic
A thumb-size piece of root ginger
10-12 cashew nuts
1 tablespoon poppy seeds/posto
2+2 green and black cardamoms
1 inch stick of cinnamon
Half teaspoon mace powder
1 tablespoon pepper powder
10-12 whole dry red chilies
3-4 green chilies, slit
2 tablespoons milk (you can use warm water too)
Few strands of saffron
Few drops of kewra
Quarter cup heavy cream
Half teaspoon sugar
Salt
Ghee

Wet grind together ginger, garlic, cashew nuts, poppy seeds, and cardamoms. Marinade the meat with yogurt, pureed onion, all of the wet masala, mace powder, sugar, and salt for about eight hours or overnight.

Heat the ghee – about 2-3 tablespoons in a pressure cooker. Add the stick of cinnamon. Immediately add the pieces of mutton, shaking the marinade off. Mix well. If you are worried that the yogurt from the marinade will curdle on contact with the heat, turn the gas mark to the lowest and gradually crank it up.

Slowly add the leftover marinade and mix well. Add the whole dry red chilies and pepper powder and cook covered for 30-40 minutes or pressure cook till 3-4 whistles go off. (Depending on the meat.)

While the meat is being cooked, dissolve some strands of saffron in warm milk and keep covered.

Once the pressure has released and the meat has become tender, add the dissolved saffron and few drops of kewra. Cook on high for 5-7 minutes to infuse the flavor of saffron and kewra into the meat.

The flavor of Kewra is the hallmark in Mutton Rezala and it is important you add it. Check the seasoning now and add salt if necessary.

Finish the Mutton Rezala with some slit green chilies and a little drizzle of heavy / whipping cream.

My Mother would have served the Mutton Rezala with some Lachcha Parathas, just like during Durga Puja. But I am the lazy one, I chose to serve it with Naan. And no, I did not make them.

Drink your Milk!

I have a sneaking suspicion that PreeOccupied will no longer remain just a food blog. At least not for the next few months.

May I warn you not to be totally surprised if one day all you see on this space are details about a pregnant woman’s diet and food habits, not to mention her aversions towards anything that can be eaten. Or drunk.

I have never been fond of milk. Surprise, surprise.

If you ever meet my Mum she would tell you horror stories about a certain four-year-old deliberately toppling her glass of milk almost every day during breakfast. Or get all teary-eyed and gurgle the milk out without any effort.

That same four-year-old brat has grown up to be in her first trimester now, and all she sees are people breathing down her neck to drink milk. She is pretty sure there will be no escaping this time, and has finally become a very consenting mom-to-be, drinking the recommended quota of milk. But in her own way!

The Badam Milk way…

Ingredients for Badam Milk are:

1 liter milk
Handful of almonds
Handful of cashew nuts
Handful of pistachios
4-5 green cardamoms
Pinch of saffron strands
Sugar

Boil the milk on low medium heat for about 10 minutes. Soak the saffron strands in a tablespoon of water and add to the boiling milk. Watch the plain white milk turn gourmet at that very instance!

In a mortar and pestle coarsely crush the nuts and the cardamoms all together. Add them to the milk and cook for 5-6 minutes more. Add sugar to taste. Let the milk cool down completely before chilling it for 4-5 hours. Give it a good stir and serve chilled.

The Badam Milk makes a wholesome, healthy and high on protein and vitamin drink, especially for pregnant women who need that extra ounce of everything! Not to mention the natural benefits of milk. The nuts, cardamom and saffron pack in a whole lot of taste and flavor and makes it more desirable even among stubborn adults like me.

Kesar Räs Malai

The two most important men in my life have a few things in common, other than me of course. Football. And the love for a bowlful of eternally awesome Ras Malai.

The retail world has been celebrating Father’s Day since the very next day they officially ended Mother’s Day. But my Father’s day really is today, on the 18th. Yes, that’s my Dad’s birthday.

And since Jamai Shoshti was just a day before when my Daddy ate some payesh back in India, I thought I’d do something for his jamai, okay, actually make that two sons-in-law – one in New Delhi and the other one sitting here by my side, watching a replay of one of the FIFA matches from yesterday.

Both my Dad’s jamai-s have been deprived of any jamai appayan and know little about what the Son-in-law Day is all about. Blame it on distance, I’d say.

But this is not about my Father’s sons-in-law. This is about Ras Malai and making it for three events – my Dad’s birthday and jamai shoshti and of course Father’s Day.

Three celebrations at the price of one with this Kesar Ras Malai. Kesar is Hindi for saffron, and Ras Malai is manna from heaven. Ras Malai is an Indian dessert of cottage cheese dumplings soaked in saffron-flavored, creamy milk.

This is my first time making of Ras Malai and I pretty much followed the instructions from here. But I used my own measurements and called it Kesar Ras Malai!

Ingredients for Kesar Ras Malai are:

For the Rabri*:
2 liters milk
1 teaspoon green cardamom powder
Few strands of saffron soaked in hot milk/water
Sugar

*Rabri is a sweet condensed milk, made by slowly cooking the milk till it becomes dense and changes color to a rich pink/yellow depending on the ingredients you add. I’d suggest you start on your Rabri at least two hours before you begin to make the cheese dumplings.

Start boiling the milk in a thick bottom pan on slow heat, add the dissolved saffron strands and cardamom powder. Continue cooking on low heat till it thickens. This could take a couple of hours!

Add sugar and keep mixing. I usually eyeball my sugar and keep tasting the milk that’s condensing while I am doing so. Also remember that anything hot will taste less sweet (or less salty), than it actually is.

Remove from the heat.

For the cheese dumplings/ malai:

2 liters milk
2 tablespoons white vinegar
6 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom powder

Boil the milk and add the vinegar to curdle it.

Strain in a cheesecloth and keep hung for about 10-20 minutes. Ready the cheese by mashing it with the heel of your palm. Make ping-pong ball-size portions and round them between your palms. Then make little patty-shapes and keep.
 
In a large saucepan, boil six cups of water with one cup sugar and cardamom powder.
Add the cheese patties in batches in the boiling water. Cover with a lid. Let the dumplings puff up. Turn midway of boiling. It usually takes about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Pour out some of the water-sugar mixture in another bowl and dunk the cheese patties in them for about 5-6 minutes.

For the garnish:
Few pistachios, chopped
Pinch of cardamom powder
Few strands of saffron

Press each dumpling lightly between the palms of your hands and squeeze out the extra liquid. Line them in a large dish/ dessert bowl. Pour the rabri on them.
Garnish with chopped pistachios, cardamom powder and saffron. Chill for at least two hours. By this time, the cheese patties will soak in the condensed milk and become very soft.
Serve two portions per person, drizzled lavishly with the rabri. See if they ask for more.

I am sending this with all my love to my Father on his 63rd.