Something new something fresh–part 3

Dear friends,I am stoked at your comments and words of encouragement on this series. It has galvanized me and I hope to feature more and more of my friends every Wednesday. It was such a bummer that I missed last week’s entry but you all know why that was:) I am just very glad to be back and posting again. Check out part 1 here.and part 2 here from the Something new something fresh series.



So without further ado, let’s just jump right in and I’ll introduce you to today’s Chef. She is..... Aparna.Will you believe me if I tell you, that we have never met...even once.Yet, I feel like we have known each other for many years!!She lives thousands of miles across the world and we are connected only through the world wide web and yet we’ve been friends for 4 yrs now.I look at that as an achievement in itself. Wouldn't you:)?

We met on a social networking site,decided to take a chance on each other and look how that chance paid off ..because today I consider her a really good friend (we have talked about all things under the sun). She recently got married to the love of her life V,who’s a great guy and also a very good cook.Needless to say, Iam very happy for this creative and artistic woman. All the very best on the exciting new chapter in your life, my friend :))


Aparna on her engagement day, Feb 09

Aparna's recipe has a fabulous name.It's called Ali Nazik and is a Turkish dish. (Aparna had this dish at a friend's place and loved the taste so decided to make it herself. She customized it’s a bit to suit her taste buds and it turned out well despite apprehensions). The dish is served in 2 layers on a serving dish. First comes the vegetarian part of it, and the beef part is layered on top of that. This sounds so yummy that I have to try it soon.Let’s get cooking

You need:
For the beef preparation:
260gm ground beef (you could use ground lamb if you don't have beef).
1 medium onion, chopped.
2 medium tomatoes, diced.

For the vegetarian preparation:
3 medium sized egg plants.
5 green capsicums.
6 cloves of garlic, chopped.
200gm yogurt (you could reduce or increase this as per your liking).

Spices and garnish:
(The measurements for garnish and spices vary according to personal liking.)
A bunch of parsley, chopped.
5 to 6 green chillies - sliced.
1 teaspoon of black pepper.
2 teaspoons of chilli powder.
1 teaspoon of coriander powder (a spice that i added on my own).
Salt (as per taste).
Around 4 tablespoons of olive oil.


This is how you make it
The Vegetables
Broil the eggplants and capsicums in the oven. (If you like her, don't have an oven, you could roast them over open flame, something that's done for making baingan-bharta, but without the oil).
After the vegetables have cooled down, peel off the burnt layers. Rinse in water.
Dice the capsicums and the egg plant pulp and mix them up together.

(Note: Usually, the capsicum-eggplant mix is not cooked over flame. Rather, olive oil, chopped garlic, chilli powder is mixed into the mix. She wasn't sure, how well she would have taken to the 'raw' taste of the mixture, hence this variant.)

In a deep pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium flame.
Add the chopped garlic and saute (don't let the garlic bits burn).
Add in the eggplant capsicum mix into this, stir will. Add in salt as per your taste and chilli powder. Stir and mix everything well.
Take the mixture off the flame. Add in yogurt (as mentioned before, you can reduce or increase the amount of yogurt; depends on your personal liking). Make sure that the yogurt is not watery. The mix that you get by adding the yogurt should be of a nice and thick consistency.
Transfer this mix to the serving dish.

The Beef
Saute the chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep pan over medium heat.
Add in the diced tomatoes.
Add salt (as per taste), coriander powder, black pepper powder.
Keep stirring for a while so that the spices mix well with the onion and tomatoes.
Add in the ground beef and keep stirring until cooked.(Note: Its okay to add in some water in between, just make sure that the beef preparation is not 'watery' in the end).
After the beef is done, layer this beef mixture over the eggplant-capsicum mixture that you had put into the serving dish.
Garnish with chopped parsley and sliced green chillies.ENJOY


AliNazik

Something new something fresh–part 2

Welcome back to my "Something new something fresh" – Wednesday series. Got a good response from my last week’s posting and Iam back with my second post for the series. Read more about part 1 here.



Today’s Chef is Vandana- one of my closest friends.Here's a little testimonial I had written for her once "Smart, pretty, confident, friendly ,caring and a great cook, V is a friend I would custom order, but didn’t have to because I got lucky enough to find her one fine day. One of the most genuine people I know, she’s a terrific mix of traditional and the modern……."And this was 2 yrs ago. Since then our friendship has only grown and she’s like family.


Vandana and I at Durga Puja ,2007


Vandana and I at Durga Puja,2008

Vandana is a Bombay girl(I prefer Bombay to Mumbai:)and loves her spicy street food. She comes from a close knit family and also loves corn, diamonds and Abhishek Bachchan (in no specific order) and claims that she did not cook at all before she moved to the US of A.Haha..Right!! I love her scrumptious dosas and rajasthani food. Finally, here’s the recipe I would like to share from V’s Pandora’s Box- Corn Bhel (an excellent appetizer, mid day snack and very healthy).She made it last yr at a get together and it was finger licking good.

You need
1.5 cups corn–(she used frozen corn)
1 large onion-chopped
2 large potatoes–(she used Yukon gold potatoes)
2-4 green Thai chilies finely chopped(Use 4 if you like it spicy)
2 chopped tomatoes-(optional -she doesn't use it because of allergies)
2 tablespoon cilantro chutney (recipe given below)
2 tablespoon tamarind/date chutney(she used store bought chutneys)
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
Lemon juice to taste
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon Chaat Masala
1 teaspoon Sandwich Masala (she gets it from Bombay)
1/4 teaspoon Amchur Powder - optional
Sev(Indian crispy noodles) for garnishing-(bought at any Indian grocery store)

Cilantro chutney
4 cups of cilantro leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic.
2-3 green thai chillies.
1 teaspoon (cumin) seeds
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

This is how you make it
For Cilantro chutney:
Grind all the ingredients together and add a little bit of water for consistency. Add salt and lemon juice to taste.
Corn Bhel
Boil the corn with a little salt and turmeric. Drain the water & keep aside.
Boil the potatoes and peel and mash.
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients thoroughly and keep aside. This bhel can be served either hot or cold. When you are ready to serve, garnish with the sev.ENJOY!!


Corn Bhel

Something new something fresh

Cooking for family, friends and fun is integral to my blog, this is where I publish stories and recipes around the three:).Today I begin, a weekly feature on my blog called "Cooking with friends" Every Wednesday, I will feature a friend of mine and her wonderful recipe:)).Iam very excited and hope you all enjoy reading it as well.



Today's chef is my friend Joyeeta, a sweet and wonderful person she's also a wonderful cook(though she doesn't want to admit to being one.)We met after she came across my blog and we started talking to each other:Joyeeta is inspired by her mom's cooking,and literally cooks up a storm everytime she hosts a party.I have been to many of her parties and you can only imagine,how much good food I have tucked in because of her.Recently,I went to another of her awesome parties and she had yet again outdone herself.Joyeeta has been a sweetheart to share all those recipes from the party and one by one I will feature them all .


Joyeeta and I at the Husky Stadium

Here's one of her many recipes,"chicken Satay with Peanut sauce". Try it, its really yummy:)

You need
For Chicken Satay
Chicken Breast cut lengthwise into strips
Wooden Skewers soaked in cold water for 1/2 hr or more
Marinade
1 can coconut milk
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste (eyeball the measurement)
Siracha chilli sauce (1 tsp)
salt
Cumin powder (1 tsp)
Corriander power (1tsp)
Garlic
Minced Shallots (2 tbsp)
Dark Soy Sauce (2 tbsp)
Brown Sugar (1 tbsp or more depending on taste)
1 tbsp oil

For peanut sauce(Courtesy of the Joy of Cooking)
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tbsps firmly packed light brown sugar ( i just used dark)
1 tbsp fish sauce (i used a little)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp canned Thai Massaman Curry Paste (i used Thai red curry paste)
1/2 tsp curry powder

This is how you make it
Chicken satay :Mix all the ingredients of the marinade and taste it to adjust any of the ingredients before adding the chicken.
You can also puree the marinade.Put the washed chicken strips into the marinade and let it sit for 2hrs to 4 hrs.Thread the skewer with each chicken strip.Hi Broil for 10 mins on one side,5 mins on the other.Time varies with each oven so keep checking to see if it's cooked, it should have a nice golden brown color. Garnish with basil leaves.

Peanut sauce :Combine all sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan.Whisk in a 1/2 cup hot water thoroughly.Simmer, stirring occasionally, over low heat until the flavors are well blended, 15 to 20mins. Stir in:Fresh lime juice.Serve it warm with the chicken satay!