iOS6 – first impressions from an indian persp.

This blog was never supposed to be for tech/digital observations, but what the hell. You probably won’t need this post if you’re not using a lot of apple. Or of course, you could be among a battery of people I know that own devices (apple or otherwise) and have no interest in updating them. In either case, move on and read something else.

Soo! Task 1 this morning. Download and install iOS6 to ALL the apple devices in the house. Managed to install on my iPhone4 and iPad2 and here’s the quick and dirty.

1) Download and installation was a breeze. The phone software was downloaded via the mac. The iPad one was done OTA (over the air). Large size downloads – 900MB approx, but managed both within the hour.

2) Maps a big letdown. There’s just no getting around the fact that Apple has no visible interest in Indian users, content, apps or utilities. Google maps itself was barely sufficient on the iPhone, but the native maps app on the iPhone has some serious issues. It cannot provide driving directions between even prominent points like Bombay Stock Exchange and Taj Mahal Hotel. It can (thankfully) locate both these landmarks. Out of curiosity, I asked for directions between two points on the same road (500ms away from each other), and the app could not serve directions. Clearly. Meant for a few big countries, and some other big cities. The Good part.  On the iPad the slight 3D and the ability to rotate the map around is super. You can do all this seamlessly, without any drop in res or any blank patches waiting for images to download.

2) Safari is the real winner. If you’re using multiple iOS and OSx devices like I am, the iCloud tabs feature is very useful. Simply, any tabs/web pages open on any of your devices can be accessed on any other devices. Sort of like a ‘immediate’ version of favourites & bookmarks.

3) Facebook is now deeply integrated. But the FB iPhone/iPad app still sucks. You can import & integrate your entire friends list from FB into your iPhone contacts. Which means that your current iPhone contact list (the ones on FB) gets updated with profile pics, the irritating FB default email, and the FB instant messenger. And friends on FB who were not on your contact list get added in. Which on the whole is not a great idea, but what the hell. FB and Twitter are also deeply integrated into other sections and apps… allowing you to tweet or post from anywhere.

3) Mail has become smarter. It now has boxes for your flagged items & for ‘VIPs’ – obviously you can choose who is a VIP, and read mails only from her if you are in a tearing hurry. So your iPhone and iPad mail is now a fine mirror of your mail on the mac.

4) The Phone function (are you still using your smart phone for phone calls??) = nice small touches. You can now refuse calls and send a simultaneous text message out. Nice, but really not earth shattering. Better functionality comes from a DND service that allows you to keep your phone silent for whatever period of time you decide (say midnight to 5am), and yet with alternatives built in to let specific people disturb you. Or to start ringing if a person calls more than twice. There is some nice intuition and human insight there.

There are many more cute tricks to try, but frankly, unless Apple intends to treat India like a strong future market, we will continue ti find that we will be saddled with increasingly expensive devices (blame the currency), that have little local relevance from a content or utility point of view. Am I getting the new iPhone 5? You bet. Why? The panorama shot feature in the camera looks like a cool thing to try. Aside from that, my reasons for the iPhone5 stay the same as the 4 or previous. It’s setting the standard. App quality and ease of use is superb. You dont have to struggle with Android’s sluggish app store where it’s so tough to figure which apps are best for your device. And largely, since I have already spent the effort in building my own library of mobile content that works seamlessly for me on all my devices and TV screens, wherever I may be.

If you need help with any of this, call out.

And if you’re looking for a more detailed review, I found this one nice.

Surely there are many more around, but from an India persp, a lot of this means v little.

In fact Apple has posted its key feature list, and which countries those features are working in. And that makes me smile ruefully.

Chicken Ghee Roast. Dont Ask!

I first heard about Chicken Ghee Roast over an innocuous lunch conversation with Rahul Balyan, Mahesh Shetty and Hitesh Sharma. We were doing one of our ‘fish lunches’ at Jai Hind near the office.

Rahul and Mahesh had that look on their face when they spoke of this Mangalore speciality that is apparently a hit at a Bangalore eatery called Coast To Coast. I was mildly surprised that I had never heard of either the restaurant or the dish. But. Having seen the look on those faces, this became a worthwhile effort.

Some research later – yesterday – gave this a shot, with some really good result. Not sure if this is close to the original taste, but I liked what I saw and loved the final taste. Will get Mahesh/Rahul to do a comparative one of these days.

Start with this

1/2 a cup of Ghee (I have never ever used ghee in a recipe before!)

12 curry leaves, and some chopped coriander,

1 kg Chicken – I used only drumsticks; but I think much better to use small curry pieces.

Marinade the chicken in

1/2 a cup thick curd

1 tsp  turmeric

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp Salt (adjust as you like)

And Dry Roast the following

15-20 dry red chillies

Soaked tamarind – 2 big chunks | Reserve the water that you use for soaking

1 tbsp coriander seed or powder

1 tsp cumin seed

1/2 tsp methi seeds (that’s fenugreek)

12 peppercorns

When you are done dry roasting these; add the roast spices and 6 cloves of garlic into a blender – add sufficient quantities of the tamarind water, and grind the spice mix into a smooth puree. Add more (plain) water if you need – no need to worry about the consistency of this, as long as you’ve managed to puree it well.

Heat 1/2 the ghee in a large kadai or pan, and put all your chicken & marinade in.

Make sure to toss the chicken every few minutes; and let cook for about 8-10 minutes. The chicken will look cooked through at this time. Remove the chicken into a bowl, and the rest of the (now cooked) marinade into another bowl. In the same kadai, heat the rest of the ghee and fry the ground masalas in this oil.

About 3-4 minutes, and the oil will separate to the sides of the pan and you can now make out that the masala is cooked through. Add the cooked marinade and the chicken back into the kadai now and cook on low heat for 8-10 minutes more. What will yield is wonderfully cooked chicken in a (very) rich and thick curry. Throw in the curry leaves and cook for another minute – and finish by garnishing with coriander.

Here’s a snap of the final stage chicken!

Rasam. An ole favourite.

Anywhere in India you go, there is one part of the cuisine that is a broth or refreshment that is tangy, pungent, fragrant and is created with perhaps the sole purpose of getting us to breathe deeply and expressing a warmly satisfied sigh. I count the masala nimbu soda as one such. And I had sworn once that if I could get ‘kanji’ to drink every evening, then I would give up alcohol in favor of that rye & carrot fermentation.

Rasam. Another one in that list of liquids.

A couple of months ago, I had noticed some Rasam recipes in good food and had’nt really paid heed. Then some weeks ago, out of boredom, I tried one out – and hey! Surprisingly good results. Today, I heard the maid complain of some extra Rasam powder that had been delivered; so I read that as a sign and started out again.

Wonderful result!! And this took about 15 minutes and 1 pint of Kingfisher.

What I had to get together quickly

3 ripe tomatoes | blanched, peeled and pureed in a blender

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp asafoetida (hing)

1 tsp turmeric (haldi)

salt to taste

12 leaves of curry patta

1 green chilly | broken into 2 or 3 pieces

4 pods of garlic | grated

A packet of Rasam Powder |  easily available at most stores, but also quite easy to assemble

4-5 cups of water | in which I had blanched the tomatoes

2 nice large balls of tamarind | soaked in warm water, squeezed & drained to give you a cup of tamarind pulp/water.

And away we go.

Take a deep pan, heat a couple of teaspoons of oil, and gently fry the mustard seeds, cumin powder and garlic together. Add the curry patta & green chilly and fry the leaves a bit as the fragrance develops. Immediately after, put in the pureed tomatoes, the tamarind water, the haldi and the hing. Let this cook and boil over for 3-5 minutes. When the puree & masalas looks well cooked and some oil’s separated, add 3 tbsp of the rasam powder.

Once everything is well blended, add the water and salt to taste and let boil for a few minutes.

Serve as in an earthen mug, or with rice. I love it both ways and usually end up doing a couple of cups of Rasam each way!

If you love Rasam as much as I do, you will end up finding out more about it; and it may surp you as it did me that there is quite an amazing variety of rasam’s you can make. The basic tenets of jaw dropping spiciness, fragrance and watery texture remain the same of course, but tomatoes, coconut milk, toor dal, dry red chillies, pepper and their many combinations can create some wonderful variations.

This variation above I can call my own. I read a bit, and picked from Good Food of course, but made many amendments of my own. This exact dal-less version is the one I like the most. Um. OK – So far.

My home-style veg lasagna.

Again. Feel like a bit of an idiot not having taken snaps of the finished lasagna. This is the best work-in-progress shot I got!

I cant recall why I made this. It was a few weeks ago, and I recall there were many people getting over on a Sunday afternoon for beer and pasta. I remember my kitchen being a very very warm and busy place that morning. On the menu was this veg lasagna, a bolognaise lasagna, the roast veg (posted just before), garlic bread, and some spaghetti with the same meat sauce. This was the early part of the day – the kitchen is still neat-ish

The meat sauce is one that I have been working on for many years now, and its become a favourite for both the girls, and for many of their friends that drop in unexpectedly! But more on that one in a separate piece later.

The veg lasagna is one with tomatoes and roast aubergines & yellow courgettes.

Let’s get started by getting this stuff together.

Lasagna sheets – cooked as per pack instructions. For a bowl the size above (serves 3), you would need about 8 sheets on the outside.
A couple of tomatoes – sliced thick
An aubergine – sliced thin (say 5mm pieces)
A yellow courgette – sliced similarly.
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil
Ricotta (or cheddar) cheese. Better ricotta than cheddar honestly!
Some grated mozzarella – good if you can grab some of the fresh, watery one. Else stay with the frozen one you buy for your home pizzas.
A couple of eggs
Shredded basil leaves.
Some cinnamon powder (optional)
Dry crushed basil 
Some grated parmesan cheese
And an oven – you’d want this pre-heated to 180° celsius.

Start off by seasoning the sliced aubergine and courgette with salt and pepper, and then (in very little olive oil) almost dry roasting these till they are nicely browned and cooked. I use a standard roasting pan with the striations in it – that gives the veggies that nice burnt look.

And by now of course, you should have cooked the lasagna sheets as well. And sliced the tomatoes.

Get hold of another bowl and break the eggs into it. Spoon in 4 or 5 tbsp of the ricotta, the mozzarella (4-5 tbsp), a couple of spoons of milk and salt & pepper. Whisk all this together with a whisk or fork..

Get started on the assembly now and get a deep oven-safe dish – say about 4 or 5″ deep. Start at the bottom with sliced tomatoes, sprinkle with salt & pepper & basil powder and some basil leaves. Next line up some of the sliced aubergines and then the sliced courgettes (or vice versa really). Finally line up the pasta sheets on top of the veggies. On top of the pasta sheets, liberally scoop in the egg and cheese blend. And that completes one layer.

Simply repeat a couple of times till you’re almost at the surface of the dish. Make sure you finish with the egg/cheese blend. Your final surface will be a generous sprinkling of the grated parmesan.

Cover the dish with foil. 
Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for another 6-8 minutes or till you have a nice brown top that looks heavenly!

Serve out! Garlic bread’s a must, and the roast veggies will go nicely as well!






  

What gets me to the kitchen?

Appropriate to paste this comment from Pavita that I saw earlier today.
The weekend was complicated in terms of travel and stepping out of home – so we ended up cooking only a fritatta on saturday morning, but we did get Payal’s special layered Biryani on friday night. This, she had learnt from a kind lady when we briefly lived in Kanpur in the late 90’s. Will post that recipe here soon.


More pertinently, Pavita’s comment captured simply what goes on in my home and kitchen. And I am sure in many many others each weekend.


There are days that the ‘gushtaba’ is not perfect, and you still get cheered by your loved ones to keep trying. 


For me, going to the kitchen to cook is deeply creative and immersive. It allows me to focus on the one thing I am upto! I take (much) longer to craft that one weekend dish than I really need. And I realize also that I have started resting on the familiarity of the dishes I know well.


Next week, it has to be something I have not cooked before. And a gushtaba sounds like a plan! It has been over 10 years since I cooked anything remotely from that area. And living in Parel makes it another big reason to try again. So, the search begins again, for that wonderful book written by Sudhir Dar’s father – much thumbed, and you know – redolent with the spices and color that any well used recipe book will be stained by in the kitchen!

Some good eating in Goa.

Much of the previous weeks leisure time was spent in rather sunny Goa! As usual, Payal, the kids and I drove our (sometimes less that trustworthy) Skoda Laura. Just as a road trip tip for those of you with this car, we just let the rear seats down, put a couple of thin mattresses and pillows – and the kids pretty much sleep for 6 of the 8 hours it takes to North Goa. Naihan can sleep all the way to South too!


This was our first time in North Goa, and ably helped by Shaista’s deep knowledge of these parts, we were seriously well fed – despite the fact that many of the establishments on our list were shut for the month of May (Bomras,Thalassa – we will be back to check you out!).


The clear winner of the meal stakes was at a hole in the wall, riverside place called Amigo’s. Don’t ask me why ‘Amigo’s’ and not something more seafood contextual. The most heavenly butter garlic crab I have had in ages and a crusty, slightly burnt local fish – served whole. Some goan rice. Chilled beer. Shade and the riverside! I’m pretty sure you can’t find this place!


Just down the road from the Taj hotels is a terrific Italian place called Tuscany Gardens (http://tuscanygardens.in/). 8 adults and 2 kids, ate and drank to their fill in a lovely quiet setting – all under 6K. The food was tremendous enough to tell you that perhaps the only thing to avoid was the Quattro Formaggi (four cheese) pizza. Too cheesy for us.


And yes, I had never been to Souza Lobo before! You need to get here early to get a beach table that you can squat on for the next few hours, and be brave enough to go to Calangute. All of North Goa actually (aside from Calangute) seems too full of too many people. Souza’s sausage rice was what hit the spot for me. I have been transporting sausages from goa for a while now, and manage to rustle up some hybrid stuff (fried with onions, chillies, and then baked with eggs; a onion & rice prep) that I will post soon – once I take some snaps when I cook up next.


Also – just in case your increment was tiny this year – please do buy your booze in Goa before you fly out. I was shocked by the range, the display and the prices of spirits in Goa. I picked up at these very nice, fancy stores on the Aguada road – Newton’s and Delfino’s. Better than any large store in Bombay clearly. 


Actually, the range of food and groceries in these stores make it easy for one to rent a bungalow and do some good cooking a couple to times a day. Just saying you know – for those inclined to a cooking holiday!


So in sum. Another great road trip to a place I almost call home. And a fresh look at my Goa Fish curry and the sausage concoctions are coming up next.


The unmemorable parts of this trip – our stay at the Taj Holiday Village. The hotel has clearly seen better days, it’s a clear cash cow, and you should go to this place only if you are part of a corporate conference or a family group that is hogging 30-40 rooms. Pretty much these groups’ sense of entitlement and the hotel staff’s apathy make for a unremarkable time. And oh, they did not have Ten Sports – I ended up missing the Chelsea-Bayern Munich final! 


Easily the only unremarkable food was at a place called Pan Asian Bowl – on Miramar Beach road – just down to the right from Mum’s kitchen (and the mirchi/toi office). The whole essence of oriental food defiled by overspicing everything. And the staff was largely clueless! 8 of us ended up ordering enough for 14!

Why? Why Now?

Finally this blog sort of comes alive. 
I keep making amendments and adding twists to recipes that I grab off the web. But 2 months later when I want to make the same delicious dish again, I generally cannot recall which turn I took in the road! This blog will therefore help me save up and record the best of what I read and what I make.


My pinterest profile will also have pictures and links to all the wonderful things that I have crafted (or reinterpreted) in my kitchen (thread/finger – picture coming soon). And this blog will keep a record of the evil twists that I have made to some of these recipes, in the quest of making them completely mine.