A BOOK REVIEW & GIVEAWAY!

The first time I heard about Monica Bhide was through Twitter.That was when her latest cookbook, Modern Spice just hit the stands. From then on, I was hooked onto her recipes and stories. We became friends on Facebook and I must say,we have been enjoying each other's company over the years now. When she asked me if I could review her latest book, A Life of Spice,I was humbled and excited at the same time. She even sent me a paperback copy for myself and FOUR for you guys!

This book has the most beautiful stories about food and culture. I am a person who cooks to create memories and to relive my beautiful past.When I read through all the chapters in the book, I felt the same about Monica. I could relate so well with her. Some stories were so powerful that it brought tears to my eyes especially the one about her father's childhood in Multan. Some were so light and jovial that I laughed out loud. I must say, I couldn't keep this book down and I finished it in one go.

                                Creamy Tomato & Coconut Fish Curry from Modern Spice (click for recipe)

I have so much to talk about this book because it connected me so well with my past. The stories about her Grandmother's house had me dreaming about my childhood in Mamma's kitchen. When she went back to Old Delhi with her little boy to show him her Grandmother's house, all they could see were rubbles.It brought tears to my eyes as I know how it feels since our Pallikuttumma house is no more.I try not to think about it because of the fear that the happy memories might vanish with the lack of the house there.I might be wrong but I don't want to take a chance.

The Legendary Chicken 65 from Modern Spice (click for recipe)

Since she has given you all a chance to win one of the FOUR copies, you really should try your chance. This is one book you will cherish for the rest of your life. A book filled with stories about food and life that can transport you to your beautiful past. Thank you Monica for writing a book like this. I feel I have been able to relive the good old days and didn't want the book to end. I wanted more.I still want more.

                              Grilled Spicy Paneer Sandwich from Monica's website (click for recipe)

After reading it all and staring at our white popcorn ceiling, I was wondering how it would be to live inside Monica's head for a day! :-) We think alike in many ways. In one chapter,she discusses whether the food is better if it's cooked in a glamorous kitchen.In another chapter,she talks about the ghosts of the cakes past.I could relate to it so well because of my Idli adventures. My Idli's are usually spongy soft, porous and feather light.It wasn't the same for the past almost 3 months. I tried and tried. I would soak rice and dal every other night. The batter never fermented.I even started to doubt my cooking skills. I made batters of different consistency at the same time.My kitchen looked like a research lab.Finally, I found the culprit. The brand of urad dal I was using was of poor quality.I changed it and my Idli's were back to where it belonged...into my hot case /Casserole...instead of the trash can.

For a chance to win this book
1. Leave a comment on this post saying why you would like to win Monica's book.
2.'Like' my Facebook page. You can use the widget on the right hand side or you can click here.Do come back and tell me in another comment that you did so :-)

You can choose to do one or both of the above mentioned options. If you do both, you have doubled your chances of winning a copy!

This contest is open to all but the copies can be sent only to a US address.
Contest is open till 1 June,2015.

 

GUESS WHO?

Any guesses as to who this lady could be? I've mentioned her in my Kannur Meen Curry post...she is Janu Chechy, our help at home for the last 30 plus years. She's been in our household even before my parents got married so obviously long before I was born.A lady with a big big heart. A lady who is the only support for her family.She cooks one of the best 'Kannur Meen Curry','Pachhadi' & 'Puliyum Molakum' ever!

The dish she is holding is her popular 'Puliyum Molakum'. There's no cooking involved in it actually. It's just a combination of some of my favourite things...Tamarind & Coconut Oil.She has been making this for me from the time I can remember. I eat it straight from the bowl but she tells me that I should eat it with some rice or else, it will affect my stomach.

When I was young,like really young I used to ask her every single day as to what she had for breakfast,lunch & dinner. She used to tell me various things she had and one of those days she mentioned about the 'curry' she used to take along with her for work while she worked in the paddy fields long back...very many years ago, when she was young. She called it 'Puliyum Molakum'.

PULIYUM MOLAKUM

You will need:
Tamarind
Water
One small red onion, diced
Green Chilies,chopped
Red Chili powder
Ginger
Salt
Sugar
Coconut Oil

Method:
Soak the tamarind in some water and squeeze out it's pulp.To that, add rest of the ingredients to taste.
I love a big fat drizzle of coconut oil over it.This is an awesome dip for Bhajji's or you can eat it straight out of the bowl.

So when she made Puliyum Molakum for me as soon as I reached home last month, I asked her to pose for me, for a photograph which she did very happily! Today, I saw her searching for onions so that she could make another bowl full for me...just for me :-)

PUTTU & KANNUR MEEN CURRY /STEAMED RICE FLOUR CAKES WITH FISH CURRY

Icannot tell you how much I love Kannur Style Meen Curry/Fish Curry.It is such a simple recipe that even a child can make with adult supervision.I have to say, this is my first attempt at making this curry because Janu Chechy was an expert at it and it was her speciality. When I was growing up, I used to eat this at my childhood friend, Babitha's house. Asha aunty is an excellent cook! This curry was there, always at their house. So when I was cooking this curry, I couldn't help but think of all the fun we had as kids at Babitha's house.

We were a gang of 3 girls. Rechana, Babitha and myself. Rechana was elder to the two of us by 6 years or so but that didn't matter. We still enjoyed pretend play as any other kids would do. I used to be the cook flipping out dosas from my pan with a small 'chattugam'/flat steel spoon.Once in a while we used to fight and since we were 3, one of us were 'outside' the group during the fight as 2 of us paired against the other.

I clearly remember we 3 were enrolled for Indian Classical Dance classes which was held at a school very close by to our house in Talap. Finally we got our uniforms for the class which was a 'salwar kameez'. The kameez was off white and the salwar and dupatta were baby pink. We were super excited to have the uniform but myself and Babitha didn't go for the class after that...just being lazy, you know! :-D

So, one day, we had a fight...this time it was me and Babitha against Rechana. We were so angry with her (and I don't even remember why!) and we decided to pour water at her over my boundary wall when she went for the dance class. But it never happened as she was smarter than us :D

When I look back at it, we were just being stupid and silly! I have such good memories with my childhood friends and the best part is we are still connected. Rechana got married 2 days before our wedding and Babitha was one of my bridesmaid. We live continents away but we are still in each other's thoughts!

Do you have such memories of how stupid and silly you were, when you were young? I have plenty of them. I was a single child till I was 8 years old, so I never liked sharing anything , mostly with my cousins (no idea why!). When my cousins used to visit us and if there were chocolates in the fridge, I used to run and hug the fridge so they they wouldn't open it, also thinking that they wouldn't know they were chocolates in it! Imagine how stupid I was!! :-D

That reminds me...I haven't told you how we 3 became friends right? It's funny, atleast how Babitha and I became friends. That's for another post...I hope I haven't bored you . Now let's move to the recipe :-)

PUTTU with KANNUR STYLE MEEN CURRY
My own recipe 

Ingredients:
For Puttu:
Roasted Rice Flour* or Store bought Puttu Podi (Taste Buds, Avis,Nirapara, Double Horse are good brands)
Salt to taste
Water as needed
Freshly grated coconut as need

For the Meen Curry:
1 lbs/ 0.5 kg King fish (can use sardines, mackerel, shrimp etc)
1c freshly grated coconut
1 tsp turmeric powder
6 green chillies
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 lime sized ball of tamarind
1/2 c warm water
Salt to taste
3 tbsp coconut oil

Method:
For Puttu:
In a large bowl, mix together the salt and rice flour. Sprinle water to it and mix well.Start with half the qty of flour that you are taking.
When you press a ball of flour, it should hold it's shape and not crumble down. If you have reached that consistency, stop adding water. Pass this mixture through a sieve to remove the lumps.Leave it aside for 15 mins.
Take your puttu maker *, add some grated coconut followed by the rice flour mixture. Never ever press the puttu podi into the puttu maker, it just needs to be spooned in.
Bring to boil some water in a pressure cooker. When the steam comes, insert the puttu maker into the nozzle where the steam comes out. Let it steam till you can see steam passing through the puttu maker which will happen in less than 2 mins.
De-mould it and serve hot with Fish Curry.

Fish Curry:
Grind the coconut and turmeric powder. Add water to aid it in grinding.
Add the warm water to the tamarind and set it aside for 5 mins. Squeeze out the pulp and strain.
Add the red chilli powder, green chillies and salt to the tamarind pulp and mix.
Heat oil, add the ground masala and the tamarind pulp.
Once it comes to a boil, add the fish and let it cook.
If you think you need to add more water,add it and give it a boil.
Check for salt .

Notes:
*The rice flour used for Puttu is not super fine, it has to be coarse. The super fine variety is used for Idiappam/String Hoppers. So make sure you have the right one.If you are in doubt, go for the store bought powder made specially for Puttu.
* Puttu maker usually comes in a cylindrical form but Amma always made it in 'Cheratta'/Coconut shells and her shells are as old as I am :) I wanted to get one here but in the last minute hurry all I could manage was this commercially made 'Aluminium' Cheratta. If you are using any other kind of puttu maker, please follow the manufacturers instructions.

* If you do not own a puttu maker, you can still make it by steaming it in a plate . Simple! But this time, you will keep it inside the cooker/steamer and not over it as I did :)

Verdict: It goes without saying how much I love this curry rather the combo! Try it and you will know why I like it :)

I am sending  the deliciousness to The Kerala Kitchen.

MEEN VEVICHATHU / KERALA STYLE RED FISH CURRY

Kerala style fish curry could be made in millions of ways because each household has a recipe of their own! How diverse can we get ? :) This recipe is the way Amma makes Fish Curry at home so it has the Alleppy- Kottayam- Changanaserry style in it and it is DEELICIOUS! I cannot emphasize enough on that because I haven't had many fish curry's which tastes as good as hers.

Now that was the red colour fish curry made with Kokum/Kudampuli. The place I grew up,Kannur, has another take over fish curry. It's yellow in colour and is made with Sambar puli/Tamarind and also has ground coconut in it. Trust me, I can drink that curry and I have done so! It is so tasty but I have never tried my hand at it which I will, very soon! Janu chechy, our maid at home for the last almost 30 years makes the best Kannur Meen Curry/Fish Curry. She is really old and I don't think she can see clearly anymore but when she makes the fish curry, it is just WOW! I also love her 'Pacchadi' and had written it down in my diary as Janu chechy's Pacchadi :-)

This particular red colour fish curry, which I will refer to as Meen Curry now on is not that easy to master. I think the main problem comes in balancing the 'puli'/tanginess with salt. My first attempt at it was in 10th standard and I produced a decent curry. I don't even remeber how it tasted because along with that curry I had made 33 others too. It was for a competition at the District level from school that I had participated in. We had to cook as many dishes as possible in 3 hours using a Kerosene stove and nutritious ingredients. There was no way that we could use a pressure cooker to speed up the process.It had to be a balanced meal and we had to cook breakfast items, lunch items, 4'o clock tea snacks and dinner items, in 3 hours! I managed to make the most number of dishes (34) which included varitey of Puttu,Fish curries,Sambar,Banana Fritters etc. I don't even remember the list as it was 10 years ago!

My recent attempt at it for the first time after wedding was a half flop, according to me. I really didn't like the colour of the curry, it was orangish and not the maroon red I wished for. Jobin and his mom said the curry tasted fine but I just couldn't accept that I couldn't cook a basic Meen curry properly! The second time, I paid more attention to it plus Amma's tip of 'sauteeing the masala more' helped tons! I got the beautiful colour and taste since then! So I thought it's time for me to share the recipe and confidence with you all, especially for you guys who are struggling to make a decent Meen curry :-) I know that struggle because I just got over it :-)

MEEN VEVICHATHU
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients:
1.5kg fish (I used King Fish/Neimeen/Aikoora. You can use any fish of your choice)
1 small onion, chopped (If you have access to 'chumannulli'/Shallots use that, maybe 4-5 nos.)
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds/Uluva
2 sprigs of curry leaves
11/2 tbsp red chili powder (I use a mix of Kashmiri and Hot chili powder,Kashmiri gives colour to the curry)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp fenugreek powder
4 pieces of Kokum soaked in 1 c warm water (for 10 mins)
1/4 c Coconut Oil (you can substitute it with vegetable/canola oil)
1 c water (optional) for the gravy

Method:
Clean the fish thoroughly using salt and vingear and let it drain.
Heat oil and when it is hot add the fenugreek seeds . Let it change colour lightly.
Add the onions, ground paste ,curry leaves and saute till you get a nice aroma (1-2 mins)
Add in the powders and mix well and saute for 5-6 mins till the colour changes to a nice maroon.
Add in the 1 cup water and kokum +water and let it come to a boil.
Add the fish and swirl the pan lightly so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.
Let it cook till the fish is done. Taste test it.
If you feel it's tangy (a little) , it's okay. Once the fish absorbs it in, it will be perfect.
If you feel it's a lot tangy, remove the kokum pieces from the curry . You can discard them.
This curry tastes better the next day .
Don't refrigerate the curry. Before you go to sleep, re-heat it and leave it to cool.
Next day morning, re-heat the curry again. This way, the gravy might reduce and will end up sticking to the fish pieces, which is heavenly! But if you want gravy, add some water when you boil the curry.

I never refrigerate the curry, I just re-heat it twice everyday till it is over :-)

Verdict: I am person who can live on Meen curry and rice alone and when I asked Jobin if he liked it the same way, he said 'No'! Infact he really doesn't like fish curry at all! I was devastated (exaggerated, I know!)

But remember that half-flop Meen curry I was talking about? He said he liked that curry and I was like,' This one? I made a real sad curry and you like that??'. Now things have changed and he is a convert,if I may say so :-) He likes Meen Curry now maybe not as much as Dal and Ladiesfinger fry!