For Kids sake....

Today i taught my first Kids cooking lesson. I know my work is being appreciated a lot by the adults but i was not sure if i will appeal to the kids. These kids are all below 12 years and they were so excited to do their own pasta from scratch. They paid so much attention to the class and took cooking pretty seriously. In the begining i thought they will call their parents and ask them for help but no one did. I am quite impressed and the moment of the day was when they asked the parents to taste it. The happiness in their little eyes once they cooked the pasta and the pride on the parents faces,it all adds up to my motivation at work.Those Kids and parents were so thankful after the lesson and everyone took some photos with me before they went home.Here, i would like to specially thank those amazing parents who got their kids involved in such a great event. Also a million thanks to my boss Jamie Oliver for insisting that parents should get their kids involved in cooking and also need to know what is right and what is wrong when it comes to eating habits and coming up with lessons for kids.I am looking forward to teach another 2 lessons for kids this week. It's so much fun cooking with kids because un knowingly the kid inside you will come out too.So, parents please let your kids  get involved in good food be it at home or at school.

I work right opposite to a famous American fast food chain and there are 2 more next to my work place. Sometimes, i keep looking out to see the amount of kids, teenagers and adults that keep going in and out of those  fast food giants. I see this middle aged obese man almost every second day walking into this store and walks out with a 'bucket' of fried food. What hurts me more is to see that he brings his 2 kids along every second day and feeds them the fried food. These kids are not older than 10 and both of them are obese just like their dad. What i fail to understand is this guy knows he is over weight and i am sure he faces a few health issues but he still would feed the same food to his kids.I do not why understand why does he not think? Aerated drinks just add fuel to the fire.I see those kids holding large glasses of those aerated drinks.There can be 1000 reasons that one might want to give why they can't give their kids fresh and healthy home made food but not even one of those reasons would be worth their kid's health. I am not saying that we should completely stop taking our kids to those fast food chains.Even i have craving for it once in a while and i do go and eat but i limit it to once a month. I want parents to do the same. Make this visit a special one. Make it once or twice a month and let the kids feel special that you took them there for a treat. I am not going to be a hypocrite here and say everyone in my family follows a very healthy and planned diet when it comes to their kids but i do keep talking to them and educate them more and more and i have seen the change. A slow change but there is always the beginning. I do not want things to change over night either because kids love their favorite fast food and you cant take it off from them right away. Start decreasing the quantity and number of times you take them every month.

There is something else that bothers me. Buying ready made baby food and feeding the baby is something i will never approve or agree.Why is it so hard to mash some potatoes? Is it so hard to puree some parsnips?Is it so hard to blend some apple and banana? I am sure most of us would agree that there was no ready made baby food in the market when we were babies. Our mothers took a great pride and responsibility in  making fresh food 3 times a day for us when we were babies just to make sure that we get the best.Also they would follow a good diet plan to see that we all got all the nutrients through food and we all grew up healthy. If this could happen 20-30 yrs back it could happen now too.My mother feeds her 3 year old grandson the same what she used to give us when we were kids. He is allowed to have a treat once in a while but what i see is he never complains or cries for chocolates or fast food.This,to me is great.We could always say that working parents have no time to cook. I disagree. I will again give an example from my family. My cousin lives in London with this wife and 18 month old son.Both of them work 5 days a week. Saranya, my cousin's wife is not a great cook. In fact she struggles in kitchen.But, i have never ever seen her going and buying baby food off the supermarket shelf.She makes sure she cooks his food every single day and 2 times in spite of going to work.Whenever i visit them she asks me questions about what can she do with the vegetables she has at home for Dhruv(my nephnew).This little one loves yogurt. So, she tries to hide the veggies under the yogurt and feed him . I am really proud of her.

To me kids are kids, anywhere in the world. So, what i learnt today is kids do love a bit of cooking and eating home made food if encouraged by parents.I taught 8 kids today all from different countries and ethnic backgrounds and they all were equally excited and equally delighted.All they need is a bit of encouragement. At the same time i see a father taking his kids to a fast food restaurant every second day. So, parents role is very important when it comes to eating habits of kids.Please do cook more often at home and get kids involved in helping. Parents need to change before they try to teach kids because kids always look upon their parents while growing up and try to follow them. I decided that i will keep posting some easy recipes that parents  follow and kids can enjoy eating.This will be my commitment through this blog. I do salute all the parents who take the food of their kids seriously and to others i request to THINK.For the sake of our Kids and future generations. Thanks for reading.

My mouth watering Indonesian Satay with Peanut Soy Dip

If there is one dish that would make my mouth water just by listening to mere  name of it then it has to be the famous 'Satay'. Countries like Thailand and Malaysia claim that it's their own creation, it's strongly believed that it has originated from Indonesia and I quite agree with it. Satay has actually been adapted from Indian Kebabs on Skewers which again is an influence of Persia.When the traders traveled from India to Indonesia in search of the famous Spice Islands they made these Kebabs very popular there and since Indonesia has some best countries surrounding it , it took a bit of inspiration for all those countries and came up with their own version of grilled meat on sticks and called it 'Satay'. This dish became an instant hit and was featured on all the restaurant menus and road side eating places and then traveled all over the world making the country very proud. It was so popular that it was declared as the 'National Dish' of Indonesia.This , to me is one of the most easiest dishes to cook and especially when you are expecting friends or guests over as it hardly takes any time or effort to make it. I am using chicken for my recipe but you can use just some crisp vegetables for vegetarian version and King Prawns if you are big fan of sea food. Now, i do not expect every one to have a grill or barbecue at home. This can be cooked in the oven and in case you do not have an oven just pan fry them. They will still taste absolutely amazing.Let's start with the marinade.
-You need garlic,ginger, spring onions ,red chili and onions all chopped up.
-Get some roasted peanuts or roast some peanuts (take the husk off once they are roasted).
p.s. you can even use peanut butter.
-Get the peanuts into a blender and add the ginger, garlic, spring onions, red chili and onions to it and blend adding a little bit of water to make it into a thick roughly ground paste. You still need to taste the bits of roasted peanuts in the sauce.
 (Now, a bit of history. A lot of South Indians especially Tamilians migrated to Indonesia during the Dutch rule and Indonesia was then knows as The Dutch East Indies. I am pretty sure that this peanut chutney has been the influence of Tamil Cuisine in Indonesia as this Chutney is very famous till today in South India and is a great accompaniment for famous South Indian snacks or breakfast dishes such as Idlis, Dosas, Vadas etc.. My mom makes a great peanut chutney though i prefer the one that's made with fresh coconut.)
-Back to the recipe now, Once the paste is done , get that into a pan from blender and add some sugar and sweet  soy sauce. If you cant find the Indonesian soy sauce use the dark soy that's available in the market.
-cook this paste slowly adding a little water at a time if you see that it is sticking to the bottom of the pan.
-Add salt and check for taste. It should taste spicy, gingery, sweet and nutty. Cook for about 5 mins and take the pan off the stove.
-Chicken, i strongly suggest thigh rather than breast. Thigh has more flavor than breast the reason being it has fat. Fat really helps the chicken to get a great flavor especially when cooking involves oven roasting /grilling or pan frying. Take the skin and the bone off and cut the meat into cubes. I would cut one thigh into not more than 4 pieces.
-Rub the chicken pieces with turmeric powder(another Indian influence) and then smear the peanut paste over them . Make sure that chicken is completely covered with peanut paste and get the pieces onto the bamboo skewers(soak the skewers in cold water before you get chicken on them so that they stay moist while in the oven or pan and will not burn or break.)
-Also make sure you do not use all the peanut paste, keep half of it for your dip.
-Get them into a baking tray lined with grease proof paper or place them on the iron mesh with the tray underneath to collect all the dripping juices if cooking in oven.
-If you are planning to pan fry them then just get the chicken onto a plate and refrigerate them for an hour.
-Best way to cook it is to use a charcoal grill but as i said  earlier if you do not have one no need to worry.Oven or pan is good enough. But, if you can get your hands on the use and throw barbecue that we use on the beaches ,nothing like it.
-While the chicken is cooling off in the fridge, we make our sauce.
-Very simple. Get a pan, heat some oil. Add some chopped onion, garlic and ginger and the remaining peanut paste. Add more soy sauce and water. Check for seasoning and once you are happy with it let it come to a quick boil and when you see that it formed into a smooth sauce take it off the stove and add some coriander leaves.That's all there is to it.
Now, cooking the chicken. If you are using an oven pre heat it to 220 degrees Celsius and get the chicken in it and keep turning every 3 minutes brushing it with a bit of oil every time you turn. It will not take more than 10 minutes to cook the chicken through.
-If you are using a pan, just a little bit of oil in it, heat it and let your skewers sit in the pan and keep turning them every 2 mins on medium heat. Keep brushing them with some peanut sauce every time you turn them for more flavor. Check after 5 mins and the chicken should be pretty much cooked.
-Do the same if you are cooking them the grill. Keep turning them and paste them with oil and satay sauce.
-Once they are all cooked, get them into a plate, sprinkle some chopped spring onions and serve them hot with the lovely peanut soy sauce which is popularly known as 'satay' sauce.
- All it takes is about 30 mins of prep and cooking time and an hour or marinating time and this my friends, is the time more than worth it for those lovely and absolutely delicious 'Satay' skewers.

Here i go with my version of 'PHO'!!!

Working at Jamie Oliver's Recipease is like a dream come true. I get to teach so many different cooking lessons and at the same time learn a lot a about some of the best dishes and cuisines of the world. Vietnamese  street food was my very first lesson and and now it's one of my favorite cuisines of the world. Vietnam is known as 'the lightest cuisine of the world' and this food is getting highly popular in west for it's high nutritional values. Pho' is their national dish and they take so much pride in cooking it  and having a bowlful of it almost every single day.
Now, what is this all about? It's a perfect and complete meal in itself as it has got all that you need in your balanced diet. Protein, vitamin, calcium, carbs, starch, sugar and loads of amazing flavors, aromatic herbs and spices. All in one single bowl. When making Pho i always follow the '4-S' rule which is balancing the 4 main flavors all starting with the word S. Spice, Sweet, Sour and Salt. If you can get all those flavors balanced well , half of your battle is already won. Pho is a soup that is made out of stock. Please , i insist that we use stock instead of water and again i plead not to use those artificial stock cubes. Make your own. Doesn't take much time at all. All we need to make sure is the stock is clear. You can see in the picture above how clear my stock is, almost like water and you can see through all the contents in there.So, let's start with making a stock. I  did a vegetable Pho so i made vegetable stock. If you are doing a chicken pho then all you have to do is wash the chicken bones or even give them a quick clean up in a pot of boiling water so that  you are getting rid of all that fat and bits of flesh the bones might have that make your stock cloudy. Once the bones are all clean throw them in the pot with veggies and simmer it with lots of water for an hour. Simple!!!OK, back to our vegetable stock.
-Take a deep sauce pot  and throw in all the bits of vegetables that you do not want to be in your soup( peel of carrots, end bits of spring onions, onion peel, chunks of fresh sweet corn, brocolli stalks, sweet peppers trimmings and so on depending on what veggies you fancy using)
-throw in a few 1 inch sized pieces of ginger, crushed whole garlic and small red oninon cut in quarters and a couple of red chilies.(Red chili is the first S which is spice)
-Add 2 tbsp of dark Soy sauce for every liter of water and that is out next S- salt.
-Add 2 tbsp of vinegar which will be our 3rd S-Sour.(I prefer less vinegar and when i finish the soup i add sourness to it in the form of fresh lime juice.) Never add lemon or lime juice to anything and cook it for long as this will result in a bitter end product.
-Finally, get the final S in which is sweet. I prefer honey instead of palm sugar that they use in Vietnam or the light brown sugar that is used in most of western countries. Get 2 tbsp into the water.
-Time to get our spices into the stock. I use star anise, cinnamon, Cloves and cardamom. Throw them into the stock pot.
-Finally, lime leaves or lemon grass because it's the ultimate natural flavor enhancer for the stock.
That is all . Get it going on full heat till it comes to a boil and then simmer it down and let it boil very gently for about 30 mins.
While the stock is simmering away, time to get your veggies ready. Since fresh corn on the cob is in season now i just sliced a few chunks and threw them in my stock. Once they are cooked get them out of the stock and keep them aside. We will need them for the soup. I used green peas, carrots, green beans, sweet corn,yellow /green/red peppers and spring onion. Chop, dice and slice all the veggies.Keep them ready.
Now, taste the stock and you will see how amazing it tastes with all the ingredients in it. Strain the stock through a sieve and get it into a wok or big pot. You will get a clear stock. Add your veggies to it and let it simmer slowly. Get some rice noodles and pop them into the simmering stock with veggies. Noodles and veggies literally take 4 mins to cook not more. Do not over cook.
Finally, i check for salt and add a little if we need more. You like it more spicy then add another chili by all means. Take it off the heat and squeeze a lime or lemon into it.
I always finish my dishes, especially soups with handful of fresh herbs and here i used loads of fresh coriander and basil.We end up with this absolutely full-on good health soup. You want to add chicken to it, go ahead.Get your chicken in along with your veggies.Same with prawns or fish.
You must have or not noticed that i did not mention any oil, fat or butter to this dish because we do not need any of those bad boys. That is why i said its a bowl full of health in it.
Health food/ diet food does not have to bland or boring. It could be even better tasting than regular food.You have a big bowl of Pho and see how light your stomach feels even after it's full.
Give it a go people. You will not be disappointed.SO, Let's go and make some 'PHO'!!!

Sun blushed tomato, Spring Onion and Lime leaf Prawn Curry

I always loved taking traditional recipes and play around a bit to give it my 'touch' and this is one of the Curries i came up with recently where i used some Sun blushed or Sun dried tomatoes and Kaffir Lime leaves to enhance the flavors of the curry. Generally, we  use something citrus like lime or lemon when it comes to Sea food but i preferred  Lime leaves in this one because the  Sun -dried tomatoes provide the needed sourness and sweetness to this curry and Lime leaf will just make it taste more fresh and limey without adding any sourness to the dish. If you can't get hold of Kaffir Lime leaves then use any lime leaves that you can get your hands on.

Not a big fan of Sea food ? Chicken would taste equally good. Vegetarian? Throw in any veggies you like , they are all good. Now, Sun -dried tomatoes should be available in all major super markets and if they are not then make your own. Choose ripe and juicy tomatoes, cut them in half and rub them with some oil, coriander and chopped garlic. If you are in a country where Sun in abundant , leave the tomatoes out  in the sun till they are soft but not crispy. If you are living in a country like The UK where Sun is a luxury , just put them in an oven on very low heat.

Now for the recipe, i used mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds for tempering( fennel goes great with sea food). 

-Get a pan on the medium flame, add some oil (some may prefer mustard oil, go for it by all means).Once the oil is hot, throw a couple of cloves, cinnamon sticks and cardamom in it.

-Throw in your mustard, cumin and fennel seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to crackle, add chopped onion, sliced white part of spring onions and turmeric powder. Keep giving the pan an occasional stir. 

-When you see the onions changing their color into sort of golden brown, add a tea spoonful of coriander powder  and a table spoon of ginger and garlic paste. ( I do not like to over power my curry sauce with lots of spices or spice powders especially when i am cooking seafood as this will ruin all those amazing flavors of fish/prawns)So, i just use Coriander powder.

-Once the ginger-garlic paste has been cooked through and you see the oil leaving the paste, time for the chopped tomatoes to go in. Now, it is very important that you add your tomatoes only after ginger and garlic paste is cooked thoroughly.

-Add the finely sliced green part of your spring onions and 4 lime leaves. Cover and cook for 5 mins.

-Once you see all the tomatoes have sort of melted away into a saucy texture add the seasoning( salt and black pepper) and then your sun dried tomatoes.I used a bit of sweet corn and green beans too to add more color and flavor to the sauce.

-Prawns take 2 minutes to cook , so i am not going to add them to the sauce and let them keep cooking as the longer they cook the rubbery they get.( I have seen in lot of Indian house holds that they cook the prawns to death which leaves them flavorless. I like mine juicy and succulent) 

-So, what i do is take a frying pan , add some oil to it and cook my prawns half way through which might take about 45 seconds on each side depending on freshness and size and then add them to the curry sauce just a minute before finishing.

-Once you are happy with you curry sauce ( you can add some coconut milk if you like your sauce creamier)

add your half cooked prawns. Let them cook for a minute and take the curry of the heat.

Sprinkle loads of fresh coriander and some fine sliced spring onions to finish. I like to give the sauce a bit of crunch so i used some toasted almonds flakes but toasted coconut flakes are even better.  

When you taste the sauce, the most wonderful part is you can get the hint of  fragrant lime but not the sourness of it.The sun-dried tomatoes give a bit of sweetness and sourness to compliment the spice.

As i always say, i just get my idea through and you are free to come up with your variations and versions.

Go for it Amigos and Amigas!!! This is worth it!!!

Simple Summer Sundae for a warm Sunday

Here comes the beautiful sun ...finally after half of the summer is gone. Better late than never. I think he was saving himself for the Olympics that are going to kick off in less than a week. The whole nation is all cheered up and geared up for the biggest sports event of the World.I hope everything goes well and we all will be proud of the event. Yayy!!!Go London!!

 Now, i am a bit pleasantly surprised that my highest hits are from The UK followed by India( thought it would be the other way round) and USA in third place and followed by Russia(this is fantastic as i have no friends in Russia at all) followed by all sorts of countries like Philippines, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, New Zealand , Taiwan, China etc...Thank you all for checking my blog out. I quite like the International audience bit. It's been 10 days since i have posted and i got a few asking me why am i not posting anything new? This actually motivates me a lot that some of them even follow my blog on a regular basis. I also like to let everyone know that i do not  just randomly pick a recipe from any book or website and post it. I think a lot about the season, the local availability of the the ingredients or their substitutes, preparation time and the ease. I try it in my kitchen beforehand and once i am happy with the result i post it on my blog. It's all tried and tested guys!!!
I was thinking of all sorts of dishes to make today and then when i went to the local 'Taj', i just .fell in love with their fruits section and then i started building this recipe in my head. The perfect fruit and yogurt sundae. I am from South India and we always finish the rice with yogurt ,especially during summer for it's body-cooling tendencies. We quite like to add fruits to our yogurt rice,bananas being most favorite followed by Mango and Pomegranate seeds. So, I took that as my inspiration to this absolutely simple and gorgeous looking dessert. Feel free to go crazy with any kinds of fruits you like. Please, use only fresh fruits and not frozen or canned.This is such  a healthy summer dessert with loads of colors and textures.Give it a go. You will not be disappointed.

The ingredients in the photo is what i used and this is just to give you a rough idea. Sundae is all about building the layers with different colors and textures. So, i used some orange cream wafers, oatmeal cakes and broken corn flakes that end up in the bottom of the box. You can use biscuits, cookies, sponge cake, puffed rice, caramel popcorn, clusters....i don't know.The choice is endless.So this is what we use for base. I used my oatmeal cake for first layer that goes in the bottom of the glass then i built it with some raspberries and bananas to go with crunchy oatmeal cakes and layer of vanilla yogurt followed by a layer of strawberry yogurt. I used low fat out of my own choice. You can go full fat if you like yours more creamier.Then i used orange wafers for my next level followed by guava, more banana and pomegranate seeds.In goes another spoonful of both yogurts and then the final level. cornflakes(i love using frosties)Apple, banana, raspberry and and another spoonful of yogurt. To finish it all off, some guava, remaining berries, desiccated coconut, orange wafers and broken bits of cornflakes. That is all to it guys. Now, if this does not tickle your taste buds then i do not know what will.Try to get your kids involved in building it. They will love it. You can go with any flavored yogurt. You can even flavor your yogurt at home if you have plain yogurt.Try getting a bit of mango pulp or berry puree into it. As i always say, this is just an idea and you can let your imagination run wild and free.

Most important point to remember is not to make in well in advance and keep it in the fridge as this will completely ruin all the different textures as yogurt will soften them up. Get all your prep ready and assemble it just minutes before service so that every spoon has a bite to it. Please do try it and feel free to give me your feedback.Keep the summer rolling fellas....

My new play school

My brand new Play Station

getting all ready for my first lesson

It's been a while since i posted in my blog. I do apologize but last 10 days i was busy getting  trained to be the first Indian 'Food Champion' ever at the very famous 'Recipease by Jamie Oliver'.  Yes, that's my new job title and i absolutely love it. When i start something new, i try to focus on it completely and this time i started 2 new activities in the same week. One is my new job and the other is my new fitness club. I am loving both of them as i am a strong believer of 'eat healthy,live healthy' concept. So, after a week of training and observation i was allowed to do teach my very first lesson today on the amazing 'Vietnamese street food' and also i got trained today on home made pasta. So, i was teaching and learning on the same day and as i always say' Teaching is a way of learning!!!   I never tried Vietnamese food before but to be honest i fell in love with the whole concept, flavors, ingredients and visual appeal apart form being one of the most healthy cuisines in the world. The famous 'Pho'  is a bowlful of health,aroma, flavors and texture. I shall post the recipe very soon as soon as i come up with my version of it. I still need to get my head around the real names of the Vietnamese dishes as they are a bit hard to remember unlike the dishes that are so easy to make. In the picture below you can see the Pork mince balls on a bed of crunchy salad vegetables and rice noodles, a bowl of light and fragrant beef 'Pho' soup , Summer rolls with Prawns and vegetables with a Sweet and Spicy dip. All this were done form scratch in an hour. So, it's not at all hard to make them at home.

Next, was my pasta lesson. I was always scared of making home made pasta because i was not very sure of my  pasta making skills but today i was doing it fresh along with the guests while the other chef was teaching . By the end of the class i made 4 different pastas (Linguine, Spaghetti, Farfalle and Fettuccine) and cooked them using a fresh cherry tomato, basil,garlic and red chili sauce, finishing with generous amounts of Parmesan cheese and trust me Pasta never tasted better than this before. I realized what  difference fresh pasta can make to the visual appeal and taste of the dish when compared to the pastas we buy in the supermarket form a shelf or precooked pastas from fridge. I was pleasantly surprised when i realized that it was not hard at all to make pasta fresh. It could be done in 15 minutes and all you need is a small table top pasta rolling machine. I felt so happy looking at my fresh pasta and it was like this feeling when you learn your first rhyme in kindergarten and can't wait for you to get home and recite it to your mom.I just said to myself, if pasta is this easy to make and tastes so good when made fresh, why am i going to supermarkets to buy them off the shelf? That's it!!!No more dry pasta or machine made pasta for me from the shelves. It's all going to be fresh and hand made. This decision will be my way of showing  respect to all those passionate Italians who love and live fresh home made pasta.Bellissimo!!!!

A bowlful of good health!!

Simple chicken, vegetable and rice noodle sweet and sour soup.

I quite disagree when some people say soup is a form of starter or appetizer. Some even go to the extent of calling it 'Patient's food'. Well, i agree to disagree because a soup can be a complete nutritious meal and also in most of the Countries it is eaten as a full meal. It is amazing to see that the choice of soups are endless and every country has it's own versions. Be it the famous Japanese Ramen or Miso soups, Chinese Hot and Sour, Italian Minestrone, Thai Tom Yum , Indian Rasam and famous Mulligatawny, French Onion Soup, American Chowders , Fanesca of Ecuador, British Leek and Potato or Spanish Gazpacho, they are all different and great in their own ways. So, you can never get bored of making a soup or run out of choices.Forget following a recipe, you can create your own soup in no time with some veggies form your fridge and spices, herbs, lentils, rice, noodles, pasta, canned beans or sweetcorn ,whatever you may fancy. Let your imagination take over and taste buds tickle. Very very rarely you could go wrong with a soup. It's simple to make and healthy on stomach. So, next time you want to dial for a delivery or a takeaway and wait for an hour for it to be delivered think of cooking a bowlful of health and nutrition for yourself and your family.

 The soup i cooked this evening (in the photo above) is a basic sweet and sour chicken and vegetable noodle soup with coriander. It took me 20 minutes to make it and trust me, it was one of the most delicious soups i ever cooked and my stomach felt so light even after 2 bowlfuls of it. So, try your own soup and do let me know how did it go.
P.S. Keep in mind not to over cook the ingredients, especially vegetables as this will result in loss of some of the essential nutrients and also try not to use lots of heavy cream or butter to cook a soup.