Wednesday 23 March 2016

Creamy potato soup

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The lighting in my new home is fabulous. Even on an overcast, gloomy day I still have pretty decent light coming into my living room and although my backyard isn't south facing, the huge French windows bring in enough light there as well. I did contemplate where i should be setting up my photography station and although it mostly depends on the time of the day and the sun position, I think I'm going to like the French windows than the living room, purely because i can use my gorgeous new dining table for the set up and not drag my photography table (which has doubled up as a side table at the mo) around, and also I'm lazy (maybe this is the only factor, now that i think of it).

(If interested, do follow me on instagram: mykitchenantics, to see nooks and corners of the house while i set it up).
IMG_9477 My props are all 'propped up' up stairs and that's kind of a pain because it means i need to plan my shoot. Believe it or not, I don't plan my photo shoot in advance. I do a spur of the moment thing which means my set is a disaster zone after I'm done. I try the food in various serve ware before deciding on the one i like. Now that i have to go upstairs each time and since we've already established that I'm the lazy kinds, it requires a bit more planning.

Well, the reason I'm saying all this is because i nailed this setting with the first try. Although i brought down soup bowl and such, i tried this setting first and it worked for me. This is my mums recipe, well most of it. I've made it a couple of times and have created my own version with stock cube, cream and spring onions. her version is much more simpler, made with leftover chicken and potatoes, which is also great but i jazzed it up a bit more to make it more creamier and delicious. It takes almost no time to prepare especially because of the pressure cooker, but you can of course do this is a stock pot or sauce pan and derive the exact same or maybe tastier result. Its still cold in my part of the world, so soups are still welcome at the dinner table.

Serves 2 as part of main meal
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Potato- 350 gms (around 2 large ones), peeled and cut into big chunks
Garlic- 2 large pods, peeled and lightly crushed
Leftover chicken on bone- 3 leg, thigh or wing pieces
Chicken stock cube- 1 1/2 cubes diluted in 3 1/2 cups warm water
Double cream- 1/4 cup
Salt- to taste
Freshly ground pepper- to taste
Spring onions- 2 sprigs, finely chopped
Herbs de Provence- to garnish (optional)
Chilli oil- to drizzle (optional)
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Into a pressure cooker add the potato, garlic, chicken and diluted stock cube. Don't add the salt at this point as the stock cubes may be salty.
Pressure cook for about 15 minutes (around 3 whistles), wait for the steam to die down and then open the cooker.
The potatoes should be cooked, almost mashed or easily mashable consistency. If you feel its still hard, put it on for another whistle or so.
Remove the chicken pieces from the soup and leave the cooker open for the soup to cool down a bit.
Once cool, add the double cream, give a stir and using an immersion blender puree the soup to a creamy mix. Its ok if the potatoes don't get puréed, i like to have a bit of a bite between spoonfuls. But of course if you want it completely smooth, go all out. But make sure the garlic is not left behind in chunks.
Shred the meat off the chicken bone and add to the soup.
Check for salt and add more if needed, also season with a generous dose of pepper.
Just before serving, lightly warm the soup and garnish with spring onions, a light sprinkling of herbs de Provence and some good quality chilli oil.
Dip some crusty bread into it and sink into comfort heaven.
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Notes: Break down the chunks of potato with a fork before blending, to make it a bit easier.
You can of course, chuck the entire thing into a smoothie blender and do the job. However with an immersion blender its just a tiny blade that needs cleaning and not an entire jar :)
You can add any leftover meat (or prawns even) of choice into the soup, doesn't have to be chicken. You can also just shred and add cooked chicken at the end, if you don't have them on the bone.
Add vegetables like spinach, carrots, peas etc to make it a completely veg soup.
The left over chicken i used was spicy, so the soup was too, if you do want to give a bit of heat, add a tiny piece of birds eye chilli while cooking the potatoes

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Bengali mutton curry

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Right, so 3 months into 2016 and i muster up the effort to do a blog post. Well, i have my excuses. We moved into our new home end of December and then pushed off to India for a month. Came back to a house filled with boxes, no storage, no curtains and no enthusiasm. I should have been all thrilled and excited considering i was going to set up my new home but the constant arguments with Ro regarding what goes where, which colours suit better, why the earth is round etc etc made me lose interest in this whole scenario. So i just got on with life and left all my baggage right there (pun intended!) 

I think he kind of sensed the lack of interest, and pulled back a bit which is when i got in and absolutely took advantage. But even then i realised i kept asking him for opinions which in turn lead to more fights. Nisha, haven't you heard of something called taking decisions on your own??? Apparently not!! Anyways, I still have boxes strewn all over the floor, but its a bit more bearable now. I may have my own house, but tell me i can go back to Greenwich any day and I'd leave in a heart beat. I am so not cut out for suburban life and damn the owners who decided to sell that beautiful, beautiful apartment we spent 8 years in. (shedding a lil tear now).

The internet!!!! Since its a new built, internet has not been sorted out. We have been given a temporary solution and we seem to run out of the given allowance within a week. So uploading, editing pictures is an issue. This actually is a very lame excuse because im still on limited data and i managed a blog post!
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Then there is Chaiparty, which is doing pretty well and keeping us all occupied. We had 2 Bengali feasts back to back because people were on wait list and its the first time i actually got to taste some of the traditional Bong food. S was the main chef and G and I were sous chefs, obeying her orders and trying hard to not goof up. I was so inspired by all that Bong-ness, I decided to give the mutton curry a go.

In spite of S giving me a run down of the procedure and the recipe, I still had to google a recipe and since it was my first time, decided to just stick to it. I'm going to write down her grandma's mutton curry recipe (which was a big hit at our supper club BTW) and make it the next time. We had this with steamed white rice, that's it! I had to give Ro the stare when he asked me 'aren't there any veggies to go with it.' Like seriously, after slow cooking the damn thing for close to an hour, he wants a side dish!!!

It was a very mutton-y curry, especially the gravy, but that could be because of the type of meat i got. The chunks of potato are simply fab and the curry tastes even better the next day. I am assuming this is a variation of the mutton curry known to Bengali households, and what they call kosha mangsho. Either ways, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Recipe adapted from here (serves 3)
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Mutton- 500gms (with bone and cut into small pieces)
Yoghurt- 4 tbsp
Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbsp
Green chilli- 1, finely chopped (adjust according to taste)
Tomato paste- 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 tsp
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp + 1/4 to sprinkle at the every end
Oil- 3 tbsp for the marinade + 3 tbsp for cooking 
Potatoes- 3 medium ones, peeled and cut into big chunks
Cinnamon- 1, 1 inch stick
Cloves- 3 to 4
Cardamom- 3 to 4
Black peppercorn- 8
Bay leaf- 1
Sugar- 1/2 tsp
Onion- 1 large, finely chopped
Salt- to taste
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Marinate the mutton with the 9 ingredients below it (using only 3 tbsp of the oil).
Cover with cling film and marinate it in the refrigerator, overnight for best results, or at least for a minimum of 3 to 4 hrs.
Bring to room temperature before cooking.

In a pressure cooker heat the remaining 3 tbsp of oil and fry the potatoes they they brown around the edges. Drain on to paper towels.
Infuse the oil with the whole spices- cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, peppercorn and bay leaf.
Add the sugar and let it caramelise.
Throw in the onions and on medium heat cook till they turn a golden brown. This would take around 15 minutes or so.
Add the marinated mutton, mix it together with the onions and cook on medium-high heat till you see the water drying and the oil separating.
This process can take close to an hour so make sure you keep checking the meat in between and scraping off the base and edges so that the meat doesn't burn.
Once the meat becomes a dark brown in colour, and mostly dryish in consistency, add 1 cup warm water, the fried potatoes, salt to taste and cover and pressure cook for about 2 to 3 whistles or till the meat is completely cooked.
Serve hot with steamed rice or luchi- a poori like bread.
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Notes: It is originally made with mustard oil which imparts a distinct flavour i presume. I didnt have any at hand.
If you don't own a pressure cooker, continue cooking the meat on medium heat, checking water in between and adding the potato towards the end.
A lot of oil gets released. So on day 2 i drained a bit. Sacrilegious i know!