Rigatoni with crude almond-chilly sauce served with a rocket and rosewater salad

When I want to make a pasta dish, nothing can stop me. Regrettably, I don't have a pasta maker at home, so I have to do with commercially available pasta. Somewhere along the way I will get one of those nice pasta makers, with the fettuccine and ravioli cutter. But for now, I must be content with what I can get.

This sauce is my trademark recipe. And everyone who has ever tasted it has asked me for the recipe. It is a tomato and cream based sauce; but the real heroes are the almonds (or walnuts, whatever suits you). I make many versions of this sauce, but the most quick and crude one, as this, involves no blending and no fine chopping. Everything is just cut up coarsely and simply simmered in a saucepan and poured over cooked pasta. I used rigatoni, but use whatever you have handy- spaghetti, fettuccine, fusilli- basically any pasta. If you are serving this for a dinner party, you could blend the sauce to make it smooth and even. But, for me the crude version fits best; I like the textural effect on my palate.

I used some white wine in the pasta, to de-glaze the saucepan before adding the tomatoes. Again, superb flavour quotient. Make sure that you use a nice rich white wine. Always cook with a wine that you would think suitable to drink. Nothing lesser.

The salad absolutely compliments the pasta. It is not always necessary to serve some sort of bread with the pasta. Try salads instead. That gives you a mixture of hot and soft (pasta) against cold and crunchy (salad); and every good chef will tell you that balanced colours, textures and flavours make a good dish. Also here, the sweetness of the almond sauce is well balanced by the sharpness and slight bitterness of the rocket leaves in the salad. The flavours marry well together, and you have to try it to know what I'm talking about. 

The dressing for the salad is quite the usual; just a few minor tweaks- I used some rosewater, some maple syrup instead of honey, and some white wine vinegar (keeping in mind the white wine in the pasta) instead of the usual vinegar or juice of lime. I served the salad with a dollop of thickened sour cream, which unfortunately, I forgot to add before clicking the pictures. Some of you may find the rocket leaves a bit too tart, and hence the sour cream.

Too much said already. Here goes.
Prep time: 20-30min
Cooking time: 20min
Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients

Rocket Salad

1 bunch rocket leaves, washed, dried and end of stalks removed

6-10 cherry tomatoes, halved

5-6 black olives, pitted and sliced

1 medium onion, sliced, rings separated and placed in ice water till serving time (this keeps them crunchy)

1 small cucumber, cubed with peel

5-6 almonds, roasted and sliced

3-4 stalks asparagus, pan fried with butter, salt, and pepper; chopped medium

100g thickened sour cream for serving

Dressing for salad

2tsp olive oil

1 tsp rosewater

2 tsp maple syrup

2 tsp white wine vinegar

Zest of half a lime

2-3 cloves of garlic, shredded

Pinch of ground black pepper

Salt to taste

Rigatoni 
150g rigatoni pasta or any other pasta, boiled with salt, drained and tossed with 1tsp olive oil
2tsp olive oil
1 pod roasted garlic, peeled
2-3 dry red chilies
5-6 almonds, room temperature
4-5 leaves of sweet Thai basil,  keep 1 sprig aside for garnish
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
Splosh of white wine
5 medium tomatoes, chopped roughly
1 red bell pepper, chopped medium
50g mild cheddar, grated
50ml full fat milk
A dash of full cream
A pinch of ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Method

Rocket Salad

In a large bowl, add all the ingredients for the salad. Keep refrigerated until serving time. Pour the dressing over the salad just before serving (to prevent veggies from sweating) and toss gently. Serve cold with a dollop of sour cream.

Rigatoni
Coarsely blend the roasted garlic, dry red chilies and almonds. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan. Add the almond-chilly mixture. Stir for 2min until the mixture is slightly golden. Now add the aromatics, the thyme and basil leaves. Use your discretion while adding these, more if you want intense flavours, less if you like it mild. But with fresh herbs, always remember that less is more. Now add a generous splosh of white wine. Allow the spices to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring gently.

Add the chopped tomatoes, pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the tomatoes are completely cooked. At this point, you could take the sauce off the flame, allow to cool and blend to get a smooth mixture. If you prefer to go my way, then just continue to keep the crude sauce on the flame and go on with the rest of the recipe.

Once the tomatoes are done, add full fat milk and cream. Simmer for 2 minutes. Please make sure not to add the cream when the tomatoes are half done, this will just split the cream. Add the red bell pepper, stir for 2-5 minutes. Add the cheddar, and take the sauce off the flame. Pour the sauce steaming hot on a bed of rigatoni, serve with a cold salad.

Vada Pav with garlic and peanut chutney powder, mint and raw mango chutney, and stuffed green chillies

This is something I have grown up eating and loving. Having a whole bunch of cousins in Pune, I couldn't help myself from getting addicted to this wholesome street food winner. And yet, what I make at home seems like such a gourmet version of what you might find on the streets for only rupees 10. It is as close to the original as possible, as this recipe is a family pass on. So I can vouch for its authenticity.

When you are obliged to live in a city up north (like me), far far away from the vada pavs, bhel puris, and kacchi dabelis of Mumbai and Pune; this is the closest you can feel to your palate roots. Being from North Karnataka; having a host of family in Pune; and my obvious love for baking and continental food; render my cuisine at home so varied that you might find it odd that on the one hand I post recipes of cheesecakes and tarts, and on the other there is the very maharashtrian vada pav or the very 'namma bengaluru' kesari bhath. My recipes are mostly adopted from mum or grandmum, and I want to make sure that they don't get lost somewhere along the way.

I hope to post many more wonders of our simple Indian cooking in the months to follow. There's always room for suggestions and requests. If I know how to make it, I'll post it. For now, enjoy making and relishing the one and only 'vada pav'.

Prep time: 1 hour 30 min

Cooking time: 30 min

Serves: 4-5 people (10-12 pieces)

Ingredients

For the vada pav

10-12 Pav (bread), halved

50g softened butter

250ml vegetable oil for deep frying

Filling for vadas

½ kg potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed

½ tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt to taste

Masala mix:

6 green chillies

1 bunch fresh coriander

1 bunch Curry leaves

1½ inch piece ginger

1 whole pod of garlic (small), peeled

Batter for vadas

2 cups gram flour (besan)

1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder

Pinch of asafoetida (hing)

½ tsp whole caraway seeds (ajwain)

½ tsp whole cumin seeds (jeera)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Water as required

 Mint and raw mango chutney

1 raw mango, peeled and flesh grated

½ bunch mint leaves

½ bunch fresh coriander

4-5 green chillies

¼ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 tbsp thick yoghurt

¼ tsp sugar or some jaggery (add only if the mango is very sour)

Salt to taste

Garlic and peanut chutney powder

½ cup roasted peanuts

½ cup roasted gram lentil (roasted chana)

2 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder

1 whole pod garlic, peeled

½ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

2 inch piece of deseeded tamarind

3 tbsp desiccated coconut, grated

Salt to taste

Stuffed green chillies

4-6 green chillies, slit and deseeded

Rock salt (kala namak)

Cumin powder (jeera)

Asafoetida powder (hing)

Dry mango powder (aamchur)

Method

 Vada Pav

Grind all the ingredients of the masala coarsely.

Add oil to a large saucepan. Add the ground masala. Fry for a minute. Add turmeric powder. Add the mashed potatoes. Add salt, and stir well on a low flame. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the juice of a lime. Stir and keep aside, allowing to cool completely. Once cooled, divide the mixture into10-12 equal portions, and shape them into small patties.

For the batter, mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, adding water slowly to make a thick smooth batter without any lumps. Keep aside.

Dip the potato patties in the batter and deep fry on a medium flame until golden yellow.

Toast the pav with a generous helping of butter on a non-stick pan, till they are nice and golden brown.

Mint and raw mango chutney

Grind all the ingredients in a blender to get a smooth paste. Add water if necessary.

Garlic and peanut chutney powder

Grind all the ingredients in a blender to get a grainy and coarse powder.

Stuffed green chillies

Stuff the green chillies with all the ingredients mentioned above and deep fry in a small saucepan.

Assembling

Place a vada between the two halves of the pav, season with the two chutneys and serve with the stuffed green chilly! 

Roasted garlic pod: the 'godfather' ingredient

This isn't really a recipe but a game-changing ingredient that I use in many of my recipes. It's versatile as an ingredient and packed with bags of flavour. Roasting a garlic pod may take a bit of extra time and effort but the roasted, sweet and charcoal like flavour renders a wonderful taste and texture to the garlic, making it so yum and so more-ish. If you love to use garlic in your food, and don't mind a kitchen that smells of it, then you must give this a try.

It works wonders with most pastas, quiches, savoury tarts, salads and soups. I make a whole bunch at a time and store it refrigerated and ready to use for when I need it. However, it's best when its fresh out of the oven.

What you need:
1 garlic pod whole, keep the peel on
1 tbsp olive oil (pomace or extra virgin)
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tsp rock salt

Next:
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Just smash the garlic pod with the back of your knife and place on a baking tray. Smear the olive oil and salt on the garlic and sprinkle some fresh thyme over the top.

Roast at 180°C for 15-20 min or until golden brown and soft on the inside.

Allow to cool on a wire rack for 5-10 min. Gently squeeze the roasted garlic out of the peel (enjoy the feeling). It should have a pureé like consistency. Store or use instantly.

Mango yoghurt cake with spiced almonds and fresh mangoes

Mangoes! As mush as I like to eat them just as they come, they make such a versatile flavouring ingredient for desserts that it’s hard to stop myself from fantasizing about a mango mousse, a mango soufflé, a mango ice-cream…the list is unending! This however, is a simple mango cake. No exotic ingredients and no gourmet requirements. Just some nice plump mangoes, a whole lot of yoghurt and some crunchy almonds.

The most exciting bit is the icing, which is made from strained yoghurt (hung curd, as we call it). It has an almost cream cheese like consistency; it’s lighter than cream and gives a nice tang to the cake. The cinnamon spiced almonds are a storm…hard to keep them aside till the end (make some extra, just in case you end up eating some before you finally plate up).

It’s a lovely combination of colours and flavours. Try not to miss out any ingredient; the small things make a difference.

Just a word of caution here: I used 3 eggs because the ones I bought were really tiny. You could use 2 eggs if they are large ones. Once you start whisking in the eggs you will know if the batter is going to be too thick (you don’t want to lose the sponginess of the cake). Remember, its 300g of flour (a lot), so use your discretion. If you want to be safe, use 3 medium sized eggs.

Serves: 8-10 people

Prep time: 20 min (plus overnight time to strain yoghurt)

Cooking time: 40-60 min

Ingredients

1kg full cream milk yoghurt
1 cup unsalted butter (can use sunflower oil instead)
250grm caster sugar
3 eggs (tiny to medium sized)
300g all purpose plain flour, sifted with 1tsp baking powder
2 mangoes, flesh cubed
50g slice almonds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Fresh mint sprigs

Method

Pre-work

To make the yoghurt icing, line a large sieve with a clean tea towel and place over a bowl.  Add all of the yoghurt and leave to strain in the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight).

Making the cake

Preheat oven to 160˚c.

For the roasted almonds, scatter the sliced almonds onto a baking tray and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Place in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until golden and roasted. Set aside to cool.

Grease and line a 23-25cm cake tin.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking until each egg is completely combined. Whisk until fluffy. Stir in half the yoghurt until fully combined. Don’t over mix. Fold in the flour until just combined. Then fold through half the cubed mango, reserving the rest for the top of the cake.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 40-60 minutes or until a cake skewer is inserted and comes out clean. Cool in the cake tin for 5 min before cooling on a cake rack.

Icing

Once completely cooled, spread the remainder of the thickened (strained overnight) yoghurt over the top of the cake and scatter with fresh mango cubes, cinnamon roasted almonds and fresh mint sprigs.

Note: Store this cake covered and refrigerated as the yoghurt will begin to sour if left at room temperature (I'm talking about Indian temperatures).

Black, White and Orange Brownie

The traditional dark chocolate brownie is such a winner at home and with friends that I end up making it a little too often. I can see that the creative cook in me is taking a backseat when someone asks me to make dessert and all I can think of is chocolate brownie. So this time, I made my brownie alright, but with a welcome twist.

It’s got white chocolate instead of dark; but since it’s called “brownie”, I retained the brown colour by not eliminating the cocoa bit. What makes this a good deal yummier than the usual is that I’ve also added freshly squeezed orange juice and orange rind to it. The slight bitterness imparted by the orange rind is nicely balanced by the extra sweetness of white chocolate. All in all, the flavours marry well, and I’m glad I’ve found a way of making chocolate brownie more interesting. As though that’s even possible!

Serves: 6-8 people

Prep time: 15min

Cooking time: 35min (includes baking time of 20min)

Cooking tray: 25cm baking tin

Ingredients

Brownie

75g white chocolate shards

175g unsalted butter

300g caster sugar

100g cocoa powder

150g plain flour sifted with 1tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla essence

4 eggs, whisked

50g walnuts chopped roughly

Juice of one orange, freshly squeezed

1 tsp orange rind

Icing

50g white chocolate

50ml fresh double cream, room temperature

1 orange peeled and deseeded

3-4 fresh mint sprigs

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a 25cm baking tin with butter, keep aside.

Whisk 4 eggs in a bowl, add vanilla essence, whisk some more and keep aside.

Heat a non-stick saucepan on a medium flame. Place the butter, sugar and cocoa in the saucepan and stir till the sugar and butter melt. Gently stir, bringing the mixture together till it turns smooth and gooey. Add the sifted flour slowly, folding it in evenly. Remove the saucepan from the flame. Add the whisked eggs (with vanilla essence mixed added to it already) to the cocoa-butter-sugar mix, making sure that the heat of the pan doesn’t scramble the eggs. Work fast, adding the white chocolate shards, orange juice, orange rind, and chopped walnuts to the pan, mixing all ingredients well. Quickly transfer the mixture to the greased baking tin and bake at 190°C in a preheated oven for 20min.

Allow resting time of 30 minutes.

For the icing, melt white chocolate shards on a double boiler till smooth, removing lumps and whisking gently till the chocolate has completely melted. Remove from flame and add double cream, mix well, and quickly pour over the surface of the brownie. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs and peeled orange pieces.

Garden fresh tomato pickle

The best part about having a vegetable garden at home is that sense of pride that fills your chest every time you look at a fresh sprig of mint/coriander, a juicy stalk of celery or a ripe swollen tomato! I have this wild variety of tomato growing in my garden that’s so juicy and tangy, and just a bit larger that a cherry tomato. My gardener brings me a whole bunch everyday and I’m running out of ideas to use them! So I put together this quick tomato garlic pickle which is a recipe that I learnt from my mother-in-law; and it goes surprisingly well with just about anything- paranthas, puris, sandwiches, or even as a spicy supplement with curd rice and pappad!

I haven’t posted many Indian recipes on my blog yet, but some friends told me that they would love to have recipes that they know can be trusted; those that are easy to make with few homely ingredients; and are not the usual ones you find on the internet like palak paneer or dal makhani. So I’m going to try and keep this up! I have a million home-cook-recipes that I can think of, but sadly I don’t have any pictures of them! So as and when I make one of my usuals at home, I’m going to make sure to take some pictures so I can share them here with you guys!

Ingredients

6 ripe tomatoes, chopped roughly

1 full pod of garlic, peeled

¼ tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds, roasted and powdered

1 tsp mustard seeds

¼ tsp asafoetida (hing)

¼ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

1 tsp red chilly powder

¼ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt to taste

3-4 tsp vegetable oil

Method

Heat oil in pan, and add the mustard seeds, asafoetida and turmeric powder. Add the powdered fenugreek seeds and the garlic. Fry for a minute. Now add the chopped tomatoes. Season with salt, sugar and red chilly powder. Allow to simmer till the tomatoes are completely done (about 10-15min); or until you see the oil bubbling on the sides of the pan. Allow to cool completely, transfer to a jar and refrigerate.

The pickle lasts refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Real vanilla bean cheesecake with blueberry topping

Everyone who knows me knows that I always order a cheesecake for dessert when I’m dining out. I have always wanted to try making it at home and now I can say with some confidence that I know how to make a decent one. I would still recommend that you buy one off the shelf rather than make one at home, simply because cream cheese is so expensive in India and It’s not worth it to make a huge one for a dinner party. But my love for baking and my gluttony for cheesecake make me want to bake it again and again!

My version involves a shortbread crust to go with the cheesecake but you could do with a biscuit/cracker base as well. I always use fresh vanilla scraped off the vanilla bean, but this can most definitely be substituted with vanilla extract.

This cheesecake is actually a shortcut version of the actual one; it takes only 20 minutes to bake and a couple of hours to chill before serving. I used Philadelphia cream cheese, which is the classic cheese used for cheesecakes. But you could also try ricotta, mascarpone, curd cheese or cottage cheese. However, if you want the taste to be spot on, go for Philadelphia cream cheese. It’s expensive but it makes the cut.

I can think of a few things you should remember while doing cheesecakes. First, all the ingredients must remain at room temperature. The cream cheese should be beaten till smooth and creamy without any lumps, and at a slow speed to reduce the amount of air incorporated into the batter. Cheesecakes are baked in a slow oven to prevent cracking and are done when the filling is set but still a little wet and wobbly in the centre. Let cool before covering and placing in the refrigerator for several hours, or even overnight. I tend to add a little grated lemon zest to the batter to perk up the flavours a bit, but then this is just my way of doing it.

This one is a basic cheesecake with vanilla bean flavouring; so it’s versatile in terms of what you wish to serve it with. Fresh strawberries, preserved blueberries, chocolate sauce or any other topping that suits your palate.

 Prep time: 15min

Cooking time: 1hr

Serves: 6-8 people

Ingredients
Shortbread Crust

130g plain flour

35g icing sugar

1/8 tsp salt

113g cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes

Filling

450g of full fat cream cheese, room temperature

130g granulated white sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract or ½ vanilla bean scraped

½ tsp grated lemon zest

120ml sour cream, room temperature

Method

Shortbread Crust

Lightly butter a non-stick 8-9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse till combined evenly. Add the butter cubes and pulse till the pastry starts to come together in small bread crumb-like lumps. Place the pastry in the prepared tart pan and using your fingers tips and knuckles, gently pressing the pastry into the base and up the sides of the pan. Use the back of a spoon to even out the surface of the pastry. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork (so it won’t rise while baking), cover the tart pan with cling film and place the pastry crust in the freezer for 15-20 min to chill (so it won’t shrink while baking).

Preheat the oven to 220°C. When the pastry is completely chilled, place the tart pan on a larger baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 13 -15 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C.

Filling

Beat the cream cheese on low speed until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar and salt and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract, lemon zest, and sour cream and beat until incorporated. Transfer the filling to the tart pan. 

Bake for about 18 -22 minutes or until firm but the centres of the cheesecakes still wobble a little. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Let cool and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (a few hours or even overnight).

Serve with strawberry or raspberry sauce, fresh berries, or drizzle with melted chocolate. These cheesecakes can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for several days.