Baingan (Brinjal) chicken style

This sunday I finally decided to try a Chicken curry recipe. The result was delicious. However I am not going to exactly share the chicken recipe cos I ended up doing a very interesting experiment.

The thing is that Mom and me are non-vegetarian but dad became a vegetarian a couple of years back. So whenever we cook a non-veg dish dad is kind of left out. The only fitting substitute has always been a nice Paneer dish. Today we were out of paneer. But I wanted to cook something equally nice for Dad . Brinjal( baingan) is my Dad's favourite vegetable and we have some growing right in our back yard.

So I decided to use the phenomenon of 'Transfer of learning' and cook brinjals exactly the way I went about with the chicken so that dad can enjoy the vegetarian version.

Since the vegetable came right out from my kitchen garden so I could cook them with the skin without worrying about chemical contamination. I sliced the brinjal's in longitudinal fashion and then marinated it with yoghurt (dahi) along with salt (small quantity as more would be added during cooking ),coriander(Dhaniya) powder , cumin (zeera) powder and garam masala. A little bit of powdered red chilly . After marination I left it in the freezer for approximately 30 minutes.

In the meantime I made a paste of a medium sized onion , few garlic cloves , ginger, two small tomatoes and  a green chilly.

The paste was cooked in a non-stick pan with olive oil ( use oil of your choice) and then the marinated brinjals were added. Salt to taste with meat masala was added and brinjals cooked on medium heat . 

The final result was a  mouth watering Chicken style baingan garnished and served.

Shahi Paneer Recipe ...

Well this one was written  last year and I just found it on 'My notes' on facebook(where I shared it with my friends ). Felt like sharing it here ... Since I am not exactly a cook I haven't precisely given the directions and quantities ...this  was cooked randomly and surprisingly tasted well to everyone's relief :P.


My way of 'cooking' is let it be free spirited and blend in everything that you feel can add magic to the usual. So this one is not an ideal one and you can have your own version. 

To begin with I had the main ingredients  fresh paneer (cottage cheese)... onions ... garlic... but my kitchen was devoid of tomatoes .... my mom had a wonderful idea of preparing a thick gravy by replacing tomatoes with apples!  Now these were sweet sour juicy part green part red apples, the kinds which have an awesome refreshing taste. So the first step was making an apple and onion plus garlic paste in the mixer grinder ....that part done... I cut the fresh paneer is small cubes (after thoroughly washing it) .


 Now you can have any shape slices but the idea is keep them equal sized.I prefer cooking in olive oil so first thing in the pan was olive oil and when it had reached adequate temperature I added about 5-6 peppers and cloves ( kali mirch and laung) and some dried leaves of Kadi patta ( I am fond of masala in solid form as it gives little bursts of flavours while eating...plus I have a weakness for south Indian fav kadi patta and crushed coconut). Then I poured the gravvy paste in the oil and let it brown. Added salt to taste and a slight hint of turmeric powder alongwith meat masala ( you can use pre prepared sabzi masala ...as per your choice)... I kept the masala thing less in quantity just for the flavour. 

Then added paneer cubes ..... followed by fresh cream and milk .... one important tip is while adding fresh cream and milk make sure that you are constantly stirring otherwise the thing may go curdy and the smooth consistency of the gravy may not be there....Let it cook for around 15 minutes on simmer and later cos I did not add tomatoes and shahi paneer has a slight sweet taste ... I added some thick tomato ketchup.... after it had blended in ...it was ready to serve....I am not giving quantities cos it shall depend on how many people you cooking for. 

Since I was trying to keep it low on calories so I did not add dry fruits. Cashew and badam can be added in the gravvy paste as well as it can be cut into pieces and put in the gravvy later while cooking ...adds to the rich taste... 

The French cook

As I watched that mouth watering roasted chicken recipe I had no clue that would introduce me to a cooking legend. One who discovered her love for cooking late in life. She replied in her interview though her mother never cooked she was always hungry and that probably helped (LOL). In 2002 a women called Julie Powell found a purpose in life by deciding to cook 524 recipes in Julia Child’s cook book in 365 days and blogged about it. The blog was called Julia/ Julie project. I found the still existing last few posts of the blog. I guess I should begin with the last of her post. It was about Julia Child’s demise in 2004 . She died at 91 in her sleep. Julie writes about the mails and messages that poured in to her expressing their grief . She had never met Julia Child and writes that even if she did she had no reason to believe that Julia Child would have liked her. What touched me was her statement( I don’t know I am authorized to quote it) that she had no claim on Julia Child except if a drowning person can have a claim on the person who saved them. Julie Powell’s blog turned her life around . She wrote the book ‘Julie and Julia my year of cooking dangerously’ and the two true stories Julia and julie’s became a major motion picture with Meryl Streep playing Julia Child.


Julia Child was too tall an American woman to join the army or navy .So became a mere file clerk in OSS. Her journey to cooking started with her love for eating food and the desire to cook French cuisine for her husband. She started learning to cook at thirty seven! The last post in Julie’s blog dated 13 august 2004 reveals the bond between two women who never met . This reveals the amazing ways one can save and redeem and give purpose to a stranger’s life by the simple acts of love and courage in their own lives. Julia Child never believed she ‘can’t do it’ . At thirty seven she had the courage to compete with French men in learning ‘their cuisine’. Her cook books made history. The kitchen that her husband designed where she did her show is part of American national museum. She is a part of American history . When asked about her success she humbly but proudly said “ I like it and I know my business’ .To the question whether it’s about her personality that made her shows so popular she smiled and said “Yes, because when people saw me cooking they said if she can do it .I can certainly do it ‘. She was a great teacher who taught to be bold and free to experiment. In one of her shows she dropped food from the pan while flipping it and putting it back in the pan she said” it didn’t go too well . See! When I flipped it I didn’t have the courage the way I should have .But you can always put it back in the pan if you are alone in the kitchen who is to see!’

So hats off to the lady who said “ Go ahead ... what could happen?”

Bon appetite!

P.S. Love the way she cooked omelette! Looking forward to more cooking and life in the coming year.

Discovered Julia Child !

As i mentioned in the last post about my sudden falling in love with cooking . I had no clue that I would blog about cooking again.In fact I had some other things in mind to blog about. But I made a sudden discovery that left me awestruck . Is it exciting to find a way to something intresting when we were't actually looking for it. This is to refer to someone that I randomly found. I would rather term serendipity. Here is what happened. I found a link, a random one on  fb .As I watch that video, about a person who defeated odds in her life, on the side bar I notice a video entitled 'Julia child's roasted chicken'. My recent interest in cooking made me click that link.I thought it must be Julia Child cooking but no it was her recipe and the cook kept mentioning her in ways that got me intrested and curious. So I searched 'Julia Child'  and I am led to videos of her show and then Julia/Julie project and Meryl streep  and I end up being fascinated. It's pretty late and I am too tiredto write about it . So I would sign off  but i could't help mentioning it now ! Next  post is definitely about Julia Child.

I'm loving it!!..tada tada tadaaaaaaaaaa

My mother never allowed me in the kitchen and  I avoided it even more. A total bookworm, I excelled in studies and a few academic extracurriculars, but chores were beyond me. I was infact  hazardous for the kitchen .I had no interest in eating food let alone cooking it (how my mother made me eat is another story). On the contrary my brother showed immense interest in both. He was a curious kid and had a talent for flavours , tastes , mixing , innovating and of course marvellous presentation. On the other hand I just managed to learn making tea. Though later I tried learning a few things  when I came home from college. But somehow  I absolutely  lacked a memory for recipes and measures and  possessed an in appropriate salt sense. So those were  frustrating periods of learning, forgetting  and then learning all over again.

              But this year something miraculous happened. Like an absolute change of heart. I fell in love with cooking. It does not seem a tedious job anymore. It has become a joyful art for me. Chopping, mincing, mixing engages me.The aroma , the flavours and the colors are just beautiful. I 'think' food and 'realize' it. Remembering recipes is not hard anymore. Infact I am eager to learn more . I find the patience to listen to my mother's instructions and follow them ( earlier it annoyed me). What mesmerizes me is how beautifully  culinary art amalgamates nature .Every recipe has ingredients that would bring together mountains, oceans , earth and sky .  They all come together and when added in the right proportion  transform over fire into a heavenly experience.

            I wonder  why I could'nt see this joy before? Why i could'nt recall recipes earlier? why I lacked the patience to listen to instructions earlier? May be the only answer to this is that  I had negative thoughts and emotions for cooking but now it's different. I fell in love with the process of cooking. Love helps us see the beauty and goodness in possibly everything and lets us have the patience. So it's great to be in and stay in love !