Baigan Ki Chutney-Quick Easy &Tasty

This is a Chatpata Chutney that i ate at my mamis place that made me instantly fall in love with it.When she told me its so easy to make & can b made in about 10mins time with just 2 baigan..i decided that i will making it soon for my family and will also post it soon..i dedicate this recipe to my Dearest Mami...thanks Mami..u rock

INGREDIENTS:

1. Baigan (medium sized) 2


2. Tomato (medium) 1


3. Coriander Leaves 1/2 bunch


4. Tamarind 1Tspn


5. Tumeric Powder 1/2 Tspn


6. Salt to taste


7. Methi 1Tspn


8. Mustard seeds(Rai) 1Tspn


9. Maash ki daal 1Tspn


10. Green Chillies 5

For The Bagar:

1. Curry leaves few


2. Mustard seeds 1Tspn

PROCEDURE:

• Heat 2Tbspns oil in a kadai and fry rai,methi and maash ki dal for a minute.


• Now add tomato and baigan cut to small pieces.also add green chillies,turmeric powder and salt.


• Cook till Baigan and tomato become a little tender.Finally add coriander leaves.


• Grind to paste with tamarind.Keep aside.


• Heat little oil abt 4Tspns add mustard seeds and curry leaves,fry till the curry leaves become a little crispy,Add this to the baigan paste.

Combination: Tala hua Gosht ,Idly.

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Dalcha

I learnt this dish from my Mom-in-Law....so the credit goes to her..I have made a few variations to suit my taste..i bet this is the best dalcha u would have ever tasted,Its a hit with my family n all my friends..whenever i happen to make it i share the half of it with one of my friends...here goes the recipe ...

INGREDIENTS:

1. Kaddu Medium sized(cut into diamond shaped pieces)






2. Meat with bones 3-4






3. Chane ki dal 1 cup






4. Tamarind 2 handfuls(soak in water)






5. Tomatoes 3-4






6. Onion 1 big






7. Loung3,patta 2 1inch pieces






8. Curry leaves handful






9. Red chilli powder 2Tspn






10. Turmeric powder 1/2Tspn






11. Ginger-Garlic paste 2Tbspns






12. Garam masala powder 2Tspn






13. Coriander leaves handful






14. Green chilles 6






15. Salt to taste





16. Oil 4Tbspns

PROCEDURE:

• Pressure cook chane ki dal separately later grind it a semi liquid form(if u like whole chane ki dal u can simply use dal ghotni)






• Now heat oil in a cooker,add loung n patta fry for a minute.






• Later add onions sliced finely along with green chillies.






• Fry until light brown and then add ginger-garlic paste...n fry till the paste turns golden brown.






• Add the curry leaves,mutton bones along with salt,red chilli powder and turmeric powder.






• Also add the tomatoes cut finely.






• Add about 2 cups water and pressure cook for 12 mins.






• Now add kaddu and pressure cook again for 5 minutes(about 3 whistles)






• Add the grinded dal to it along with Tamarind water.






• Add coriander leaves and let it boil.






• Finally add garam masala powder,some more salt to taste.






• U can also add lime juice if u want it to be more tangy.

PREFFERED COMBINATION:Bagara khana-Sem ki phalli Gosht-Dalcha.

I made Dalcha with bagara khana and dum ka gosht .I have already posted Dum ka Murgh recipe on my blog but i tried with gosht instead of chicken...n its a superb combination to try ...hope u all will love this combination.

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Flavour of haleem… in words

Haleem is not some roadside food to be eaten and the bones and spices spat out. No. If you are a Hyderabadi it is a love affair to remember, to wait, to drool, to savour, to Twitter notes, to make your Facebook pals envious (one of whom says:

kanisam tinali anukunna tinaleni postion ra naku ikkkada dorakadu, and another bloke says: yaad mat dilao bhai raha nahi jata) and, okay, to worry about the money part (nearly Rs. 2000 if a person eats daily).

But making haleem is no rocket science. Housewives with their hand-me-down secret recipes cook up better stuff than the men swirling the gooey stuff in huge cauldrons. But then you cannot persuade ammis and aunties to make haleem everyday and that’s why we rush to neighbourhood haleemwallahs.

That brings in the twist in this year’s haleem’s tale. With almost all the haleems tasting the same, redolent of the same sweet buttery smell, similar smoky flavour (okay one has a hint of rose petals, another pudina, another of saffron and yet another of curry) what do the haleemwallahs do? They resort to marketing their product with words.

Here is a fun trip through the haleem-land of Hyderabad with the wordsmiths in charge and not the chefs. Near Charminar is: Zayeqe daar Turkey haleem. “Turkey as in the country and not the bird. They put tarkari (vegetables) in the haleem, we stick to the Turkish formula of meat, wheat, dry fruits and spices,” says Abid applying warq to the cauldron.

At MG Road if one restaurant prides itself for getting the spices and nuts from Iran another throws a gauntlet about getting the dish tested for its purity and the meat used. City Light is selling what it calls Mashhad Haleem. “Mashhad is a place in Iran and this haleem is a speciality of the place. The spices and the dry fruits that go into this haleem are also from Iran,” says Syed Husain.

After taking Rs. 80 he gives a token and then you get a Styrofoam bowl with what looks like haleem but with a white creamy topping, pudina leaves and as you dig in there are dices of apricots, pistachios and almonds. Blander, but then it is also a haleem. To each his own it seems as across the road is Lamcy which is selling mushroom haleem, fish haleem, paneer haleem and of course the mutton haleem.

In Nacharam where about seven haleem sellers have made their appearance, there is one bloke who promises haleem made with skin-less chicken. The Bahadurpura-Chandulal Baradari-Shahalibanda stretch is chock-a-block with the haleem/harees sellers the pick is surely the one where Aamir Khan in his Ghajni avatar is shown as if he is hugging the rooster.

Even if there is a joint that sells beef haleem near Rama theatre in Bahadurpura, the photograph is that of a crowing rooster. Arbi Haleem/Deccani Haleem/Turkey Haleem/Irani Haleem take your pick. Potli masala, Irani masala, Turkey masala and the spiel keeps spinning.

Incidentally, potla meat and potli masala are two different things. Potla meat should ideally come from lambs that live in the countryside and are not grown in farms (tough luck to get enough of them) and if a haleem is made with potli masala then all the pieces of cinnamon, pepper and cloves should not make an appearance in your bowl of joy. And that would be something. Like all good or bad advertisements the hyperbole makes you wonder about the real nature of haleem. Or like this ad says: ‘Shyam, Samuel ya Saleem sab ki pasand haleem.’

SERISH NANISETTI

Monday, Aug 31, 2009, Metroplus

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The best cappuccino in town

Beethoven counted and used 60 coffee beans to prepare his brew. Each time for each cup of coffee. Perhaps that would explain the perfection he achieved with his symphonies and notes. Every evening at 6.30 pm a robust old man walks inside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Secunderabad, sits in the second row in the centre twirls his moustache and waits. As he sees the smoothened granite flooring polished by a billion footfalls, a steaming cup is brought for him. Sip and a furrowed brow lines curl up in appreciation. The waiter in white walks off pleased. Not a word spoken.

The entry of coffee pubs has kicked the game wide open. Now the Minerva Coffee Shop, Chutneys, Taj Mahal Hotel with their staid appearance, pre-mixed sugar, chicory and varying quality (in the morning the brew is perfect, quality plummets by noon again perks up by evening) have big time rivals. Not the cauldron of dark decoction and boiling milk.

Check this out to know the difference. The order is the rating based on quality of coffee, service, barista’s expertise, ambiance, parking space etc.

Qahwa: The perfectly brewed cappuccino. The ambiance is neither too claustrophobic nor too spaced out. Weather permitting, you can sit on the lawns and breathe in the pollution while quaffing or sipping the stuff. The coffee has the right notes, body and flavour. The texture too is right. The froth is deceptive so you have to be careful while adding the sugar. Their trademark cold coffee called Qahwa is cool. The barista uses a Cimbali semi-automatic and the pressure and the temperature at which the decoction comes out is right so the bite in the notes is somewhat mellowed.

Café Coffee Day: Still the finest though slipping in quality where the patronage is high. The standardization slips when it comes to takeaways. Using an Astoria semi-automatic and a good barista at the knobs (Kaushik Aich (Somajiguda outlet) is a bronze winner at the Indian Barista Championships) the cappuccino can be pretty addictive. Earlier they used to serve a more frothy stuff now the froth is no longer there so you can no longer eat the froth and drink the coffee. (Shhh: For the cold coffees they use readymade decoction which is brought in jerrycans). More acidic than the cappuccino at Qahwa, it has a hint of mountains. (Why do they keep the AC switched off?)

Leaf n Bean: The newest entrant in the coffee game it is set to go places as the brew hits the right notes. They say they use only Arabicah beans imported from Brazil, Columbia and Indonesia. Without using Robusta beans it is an achievement that the cappuccino notes are so high (perhaps it is their Rancilio that does the trick). They are trying to peddle their flavoured teas and flavoured cold drinks but that should be for the junta. Located in an atrium, the stairs are somewhat dicey business to negotiate. The spaciousness adds to the ambiance.

Barista: Concentrating too much on their cold coffees (they are higher priced and more lucrative) the cappuccino doesn’t get the attention it deserves. And it shows. The ambiance is right. There is good parking space at all the outlets. But all these plus points are negated by the ordinariness of the coffee. Perhaps the steam hits the coffee powder at higher temperature (92 degrees would be perfect) which explains the brew’s odd notes though the flavour is right.

Qwiky’s: Sometimes good, sometimes middling it is not VFM (value for money). A flat cappuccino which doesn’t raise the spirits. The forehead brows stay where they are after the sip. They are trying to make up by adding the Madras Filter Coffee. But filter coffee is altogether a different ball game where they will have tough time beating macappuchino. Dunno? Cappuccino brewed by mom.

SERISH NANISETTI

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21 days to go for Ramzan

The magrib azaan rings out from a thousand minarets near Madina and its neighbourhoods, the faithful in their skull-caps, pyjamas folded above the ankles, rush in to bow their heads in prayer as the sing-song intonation continues. A little later, the troop of devout march to the nearest stall selling fruit salad, falooda, and oh yes! haleem. Across the city in Toli Chowki, you can hear the same sound having the same effect on people.

The calm piety of the day disappears in the razzle dazzle of shopping for clothes, shoes, caps, burqas and sevain.

Move on from Madina to the inner lanes of Patherghati, Charkaman and Mitti ka Sher and you get meat on stick, coloured ice lollies, phirni, pathar ka gosht and a zillion other temptations costing from 50 paise for the lollies to the expensive but perfectly spiced and cooked pathar ka gosht.

But what is an iftar in Hyderabad if it is not topped up or at least get a smell of haleem? Nothing (we have been told a similar haleem is sold on the streets of Karachi across the border, but then bullets also fly there, no?).

We start the gastronomic trip from Garden in Secunderabad. This year the servings are smaller, the restaurant has chick interiors and the waiters wear smart checkered jackets. At Rs 28 the haleem isn’t cheap, though a Rs 5 vanilla ice cream is served free. Meaty, wheaty.

A little ahead is Paradise. The souped up joint is on the other side, haleem is served in a make-shift godown kinda place. It is Rs 25 for the haleem and Rs 28 if you want a mini Coke to wash it down. Rich with layers of flavour.

Stop by at an unnamed joint where just the block of mud for cooking haleem is there and the pot is being stirred by two toughs using ladles that are taller than the men. This got to be interesting. The haleem is cheaper at Rs 25. Spicy, there is a cardamom in almost every bite.

Bawarchi is the bigger of the larger haleem addas in the city. There is almost a queue before you can get your spoonful of delight. Greasy, sweet.

“We cannot say how many haleems we sell,” says the owner of Shadab Md Khaja Pasha. The place is packed as the fasters feast on haleems, biryanis, shorba. How much meat do you get? “We get large quantities, the work begins right from 2 am,” he says. The haleem? Well there is a topping of ghee, crisp-fried onions, coriander and it tastes wow. But the falooda is better we think.

Cross the road, there is Madina. No glitz, no hardsell, the haleem does the talking. Spicy with layers of aroma and flavour.

Ah the biggest, brightest and the most expensive: Pista House. You can literally swim in the fat floating on top. There is a queue to get the tokens and there is a queue to get your serving. This year Abdul Majeed has unveiled a veg version of his haleem on an unsuspecting people and competition. The veg haleem is the killer with its appeal and full bodied aroma.

End of the day, there is Niagra near Toli Chowki. Do all these haleem makers have a single formula which they tinker according to the price? Maybe, they almost taste the same, except a dallop of fat here, an ounce of spice there or a chunkier wheat flour.

The insha namaz (night prayer) is in progress near Shaikpet Nala. And it is 21 days to go for Eid.

SERISH NANISETTI

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In love with haleem

The Fajar azaan sounds at 5.07 a.m. and the basic ingredient of haleem: meat; is being checked for quality in the best traditions of Michelin chefs in a function hall at Shahalibanda. A little distance away, Behind Haveli Manjli Begum, workers are firing up the logs as a few others fix the clay ovens enclosing the gargantuan couldrons.

Between the two spots, this is the kernel of evolution of haleem as the meat, wheat, and spices are transformed by the kasais and the khansama into the gooey, gelatinous, spicy, fragrant and the to die for dish for most Hyderabadis.

The measurements are oriental, as the workers dunk two baskets of meat, three fistfuls of chillies, a fist of scrapped papaya and water and cover it with a lid and seal it tight with a cloth. It is 6.15 a.m. and the traffic is picking up outside the small lane as the smoke and steam rise from hundred other cauldrons covered with red cloth across the old city and from Basheerbagh to Begumpet. The story is the same as meat from Chengicherla or Jiyaguda gets the treatment at the hands of the cooks.
It stays like this till 12 noon when the khansama Syed Pasha comes in attired like an executive in Allen Solly clothes and enters a mud plastered cubicle stocked with spices, rose petals and salt. A series of bowls are lined up and without becoming uncomfortable in the heat of the chullahs and smoke which makes eyes smart and runny, he fills each of the bowl with the right mix of ingredients. The meat that has been cooking for over six hours (it still doesn't smell of haleem), a gruel of pounded wheat is added on and Pasha's secret mix is dumped as is a fistful of coriander. Half hour dum cooking (now, it has the sweet, spicy smell) and half hour of pounding will make the haleem ready for the rozedars.

A few minutes before the Maghrib azaan, the siren marking the end of the fast does a fantastic thing. The Pathergatti, which appeared like a village market, is like a deserted boulevard, albeit with pushcarts vending everything from innerwear to ice lollies to Made-in-China toys. All the men have disappeared into huddles with bowls of fruits and dates to break the fast.

If Pista House is the destination of haleem eaters from everywhere, there are people who turn this Ramzan dish into a gastronomic odyssey. An odyssey can begin anywhere, right from Garden and Paradise in Secunderabad to Shadab, Niagara, Nayaab, Bawarchi, Azizza, or Embassy in Basheerbagh and the list goes on.

Raj Siddham is in the middle of his odyssey. "I am a Hyderabadi and have grown up with haleem. Nothing can compare to the taste of this dish. Though I live in Dubai, there isn't a single dish that can match it. Embassy near Basherbagh was hmmmm. There are more days to go and more places to explore," is the way he sees things.

Paradise is almost a world away as a different generation discovers the magic of haleem. One of them is Rohit Nayani who has come from Visakhapatnam and is working in Nipuna. "I like it and have already eaten at five places. It is so much more different from other non-veg dishes I have eaten," he says.
Then over cuppas of Irani chai, there can be endless debates about the haleem. Does the shredded chicken add zing to the dish, do diced eggs take away the flavour of the khari haleem and how come haleem to be supped by rozedars is so expensive as to be out of reach of the poor? By the time the debate would be over, it would be another Fajar prayer and within no time it would be Eid.

SERISH NANISETTI

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Biryani fit for a nawab

Think Hyderabadi biryani and you would think about either a mutton biryani or a chicken biryani. But biryani, a gourmand’s delight born in adversity, has another cousin called Kalyani Biryani.

As fragrant, as tempting and just as addictive but at one-third the cost. Step inside one of the restaurants selling it with an unobtrusive sign and you will get a heapful of helping with chunks of meat that is dark, tensile and juicy. It is the food of choice for wrestlers, body builders and other people without bulging wallets.

The birthplace of this enigmatically appropriate euphemism for beef biryani is small bylane in Shah-Ali-Banda. There, you will find Kalyani Nawab-ki-Devdi. You can easily pass it by unless you chance upon the centerpiece of arresting colourful tiles, roosting pigeons, delicate stucco work, grazing goats and a filigree-worked marble grave, surrounded by smaller less-ostentatious graves. How the artisans baked the red-clay tiles and coated them with indigo, green, yellow and other bright colours remains a mystery.

But this is the birthplace of Kalyani Biryani. Though the Devdi appears like an eyesore it wasn’t always like this. The anecdotal history about how the biryani got cooked is a story of courtly intrigue, Nawabi pelf, exigency and the Hyderabadi-make-do spirit.

The Nawabs of Kalyani had massive estates near the fort of Kalyan (part of Bidar in Karnataka) from the time they became qiledars (fort keeper). One of them Ghazanfur Jang known as Mohana Mian married Sahibzadi Kamal-un-Nissa Begum, the second daughter of Asaf Jah-III, on Dec 16, 1802. He worked on the devdi and his descendents added to the magic. If the people living in his estates had any work in Hyderabad, the capital of Nizam’s province, they would stay in the devdi where they would be served food twice a day.

The tradition continued under the Nawab Gazafar-ud-Dowlah and Nawab Mehdi Hussain. But times change, traditions change and during Mehdi Hussain’s time as fortunes and estates dwindled after Operation Polo, someone in the dastarkhwan tweaked a recipe to create Kalyani Biryani without the knowledge of Nawabsahab. “Then the devdi was parceled out for Rs 5 a gaz (a yard). You can see what is here now,” says Syed Shah Md Qadri who was born in Kalyani but had his upbringing in the devdi pointing out the unplanned structures that have overrun the place.

As you walk out of the devdi, you can’t help think that the bard was wrong when he wrote:

“The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interrèd with their bones.”

SERISH NANISETTI

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