Winter RiceBowl

Delhi in November just makes you crave for a bowl of warmth!! This recipe I want to share today is beautifully flavourful even though it really doesn't have as many aromatic vegetables and herbs and exotic spices that one would use to make a stock. Even though you can use any vegetable/chicken/beef stock available in the market and it won't kill you, I feel that this particular one is very pleasant with rice.

First marinate some chicken thighs in some ginger paste and soy and leave it in the fridge for about 2 hours in a zip pouch. Then shallow fry in vegetable oil (after a rinse) for about 20 minutes. This will seal the meat and cook them half way, ready for the next step( steaming)

Clean and prep some vegetables... I have used a carrot, some pumpkin and a radish.

 You can get creative here and cut them in cute shapes with a regular kitchen knife. I wanted all the vegetables to have different shapes so I did my best.

Place them in a steamer one deck above the chicken. 

Keep the chicken on for about 20 minutes. It took me around 6 to 7 minutes for these vegetables but I suggest you go by the colour (translucent like shown in the picture below) and not by my timing as there are too many variables(difference in density, shape, size, personal preference....)

Immediately place them in a bowl of chilled water (use ice cubes) to stop them from cooking further and becoming a mush.

Keep them aside in a clean bowl.

Use the shavings (result of shaping the vegetables!! nothing should go to waste), 2 red onions, two medium tomatoes, one thumb size ginger and some meaty flavour.
I have used shyachu ( home made dehydrated beef ) and a Chinese Pork sausage (any pork sausage which is sweet from star anise and salty). These can be substituted by chicken, beef or vegetable stock cubes.

I put all of the above ingredients into a pressure cooker with some salt, freshly ground black pepper, and 3 cups of water. Put it on high heat and after the first whistle, lower the heat and keep it on for about 15 minutes so that all the flavours from the meats and vegetables infuse.

You will see this, don't be alarmed and calmly strain the soup through a strainer into a larger pot. The red colour is from the tomatoes...I love it!!

Now, place the chicken thighs in the soup pot and let it soak up some of those flavours on low heat. At this point I like to add a handful of frozen peas into the soup just for a pop of green.

Prep your bowl, placing the hot steamed rice at the bottom and arrange those cute vegetables and a soft boiled egg. Gently remove the chicken from the soup and place it in the bowl.

Slowly pour the soup over the bowl of rice and vegetables and serve with homemade fresh chilli garlic paste. Click on this link to learn how  http://yangloo89.blogspot.in/2014_04_01_archive.html

Relish this simple and humble rice bowl on a cold day with your loved ones.
Enjoy and remember to cook from your heart!!

Grandma's Hishom phaley ( teatime snack)

It feels comforting to finally be able to sit alone and blog after a month long holiday. The past month has been nothing but a great learning experience in the kitchen with my family. Over the holidays, I tried my best to photo document some traditional recipes .... hopefully I still have pictures of all the steps...sorry for leaving out a few steps since #throwback shall be the word of November!!

Grandma's Hishom phaley is one of the few deepfried items out there that tastes good even when they cool down, unlike most. This reason makes it a good bread option to carry on family roadtrips. Best enjoyed with a hot cup of tea or a tall mug of your favourite coffee.

lets start with a small batch (just make sure to use the same size cup for all measurements)

• 2 cups of wholewheat flour/atta
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• one teaspoon of baking powder.(mix with flour when dry and use a sieve to mix well)
• 1 cup of clarified butter(ghee) or vegetable oil
• 2 eggs 
• Half a cup of water.
• 1 litre of vegetable oil for deep frying.
• one deep frying pan.

In a large bowl add the flour, powder sugar and baking powder. In another bowl mixthe oil, eggs and water. Then slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and and knead it. Portion the dough into tennis ball sizes, put them aside and cover them .

I

Take them one by one and roll them out into small discs making sure that they are around 4 to 5 inches in diameter and about 6mm thickness (maximum up to 1 cm). Do this as you heat your oil in a frying pan.

 Next take a knife and make two slits to prevent the phaley from puffing up and also because this is how it is always made!!!

Once the oil is hot, I usually throw in a small piece of the dough to check the temperature since I don't have a kitchen thermometer (very easy, don't panic....these things come gradually with more experience, don't forget -glorious feasts were prepared even before science and technology made life easy.) If the test dough bubbles up immediately to the surface, we are ready... if there is too much smoke just lower the flame and wait for 2 minutes and try again.

If the oil is too hot, the phaleys will burn on the surface and still be raw at the centre. If the oil is not hot enough, they will absorb all the oil and be very soggy and sad. 

remember:

• As they go into the pan, the flame is on high
• Once they turn to golden from white and you flip them, flame is on medium high
• Once they are brown in colour as shown below remove them and put the flame on high for the next batch again.

Enjoy them hot or keep them away( after letting them cool to room temperature) in an air tight container. They should last for about a week, like in Sikkim (temperature is usually about 27 degrees Celsius and low humidity).

These taste great with a variety of combinations sweet and savoury!!

All the best and remember to cook from your heart <3