Barbeque - A Trial by Fire

We came back from Easter holidays (a mere 4 days) to find the season had turned a new leaf..literally. The tree visible from our living room window had sprouted pink flowers. The ones next to nearby bus stop had white ones. From a distance they look like a painter has laboured to put the dots on each branch to make them look like flowers. The day light saving in UK makes the weather changes very sudden. One evening you might be walking back home in dim sunlight and the next day you can feel the warmth of the sun when you are cooking dinner. Ok agreed I am exaggerating a bit...but you would have to agree it is only a bit :-). Our friends had come back from India and other trips and there was a serious need to meet and catch-up. The last weekend was fixed and we trooped over to the edges of Cotswold countryside to enjoy the sun. I have stayed in bungalows for the first 22 years of my life. And then Bombay happened to me. And I got used to perching on the top of high-rise buildings and sharing walls with strangers. The trend continues here as well. Much as I liked independent houses, the practicalities of keeping it clean and security makes us opt for flats. So whenever given a chance we love the country cottage feel of our friend’s dwellings.

It is officially summer, although the nip in the air sometimes doesn’t make you feel that way, so we decided have a barbeque. It meant we girls would actually not be in kitchen all the time trying to outdo each other with newest tried recipes. It was the first time we were trying the ritual of barbeque. We had heard of the basics and rest was left to google. The first attempt to fire up the coal resulted in a smoke so bad, it might have rivalled the one spurted by the unpronounceable (I am glad there are difficult things to pronounce in the world than my name) volcano in Iceland. Ok.. not that much..but certainly qualified for a complaint from the neighbour, if only they were not doing a barbeque as well.


Frantic search through google (how did we ever survive before it!!!) and few fixes later things were manageable and it looked like we were going to get lunch after all. Not just charred pieces of coal.

The veggies grill section certainly looked more colourful than the non veg. We did end up with more variety than a normal lunch.

Pineapple with cinnamon, olives, corn on the cob accompanied by at least 4 different dips, there was a lot going on. At the end of it all we had eaten so much that I could compare myself with a python and empathize with what the beast might feel after eating many times than what it can digest in one day. And my behaviour resembled one too. We all of us didn’t probably move much than the positions we took in the living room after this assault. While the stomach got to work, rest of the body just gave up. But it was a great first time barbeque and I hope will be followed up by many more.

There is no recipe this time. It is more of the experience that I wanted to share. One of the chicken was murg malai tikka which I have already shared as my post ‘Heaven on Earth’. The other chicken tikka is a shortcut. Chicken marinated with yoghurt and Everest Chicken Masala.Yes thats it. Things can be so simple. Thought I must admit I didn’t like using the ready made masala. I have come to take pride in my own preparations. But I am glad I did. Because the time saved was well enjoyed with friends. So we had two marinades a white and a red. And there were batches of paneer and chicken both marinated in them.

All then we had to do was get them skewered and grilled over the barbeque.


The barbeque allowed our better halves almost equal participation in the cooking process and I am happy to say, they did the job well. The sun shone down fiercely from above while the coal flames licked the dripping chicken and paneer pieces and turned them succulent. The grilled fare was stuff of dream. The smokey undertone to the tikkas poked our tastebuds and the subtle spices of the marinade tingled the palate. I guess this is how some food critic might have written if they would have reviewed our barbeque. For us it just tasted good enough to eat.

I would have taken a proper picture of the food if only it survived longer than 10 minutes after coming off the heat. So there are no finished products to show :-)

A small ode to barbeque.

The Barbecue

When summer evenings are nice and hot,
The thing to do is find a spot,
Where a barbecue can be set up,
So everyone can come and sup,
Relax with a bottle, and sit for a spell
Which would be really nice and would end the day well,
And enjoy the light hearted, cheerful chatter,
With friends, who to you, truly matter.
Right! The table's set, the flares are lit,
The music should be a real hit
The friends have arrived, the drink if flowing,
Laughter starts, the barbecue's glowing,
The cooking has started, the aroma's divine,
Everyone is getting along fine,

Not original but a google search. I have copied part of the poem but you could read the full version here http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-barbecue/

Heaven on Earth

I had once read a book, Five people you meet in heaven. It had one very interesting concept. It said there is no heaven beyond the clouds. Heaven is on earth. A very big statement to make. But it made sense when thought about it. Every human being has his/her own thoughts, beliefs, likes, dislikes and experiences. In experiences alone an individual becomes that, an individual rather than the mass, the crowd. That being the case, is it too difficult to assume that we each have our own concept of heaven. For me heaven might mean lying on green grass with the blue sky above me with my favourite books around me to read. Would not mind a few good savouries to nibble on while I enjoy the stories. This might be someone’s nightmare for all I know!!. For Scrat from Ice Age it may be the place with nuts.

How can God or the Supreme Being (whichever way you address the universal power of universe) construct a heaven which satisfies the fantasies of the billions inhabiting the Earth. It would be a very difficult task. After sweating over creating earth and earthlings for seven whole days, I doubt He (no offence to people who think I should write She) would like the task of replicating it for creating heaven. Nor do I think He/She would also like to share the existing heaven with us. It would have been built to his specifications anyways. So the idea would not have been far away, that why not make earth the heaven. And how to judge what should be heaven on earth? It could be the places we are happiest. Is it not this feeling of happiness that we want from heaven, increased manifold? So if there was a moment in our life when we were truly ecstatic, I would like to believe we would be coming back to that. In today’s world of customized offering, is it any wonder that God might give each one of us a Customized heaven. It is a marketing solution no one can argue against!!!

Once I had thought all this, I felt very comforted. So when I am going to heaven (it may take quite a while according to Hindu Scriptures and my current behaviour), it is going to be the best place ever. And most importantly I am sure I am going to love it, because I would have been there before. Visiting a new place anyways has a factor of unknown attached to it. What if you didn’t like heaven? Well know we can be rest assured we are going to like it. Finally one can die in peace.

So if I sit down to draw the specifications of My Heaven...I can end up either in Dehradun or Konigsee. Though Mureen and Kanassar would figure close seconds. So much for the place...food would have to form a big part of the place as well. What would I want to have in heaven? That’s a difficult choice. A very very difficult one. Phuchka (better known as goluppa or panipuri) should definitely be there. What else...I guess a chicken tikka with lots of onions (more about onions another day). There is this chicken tikka which is called Murg Malai Kebab, which would be quite perfect to have in the wonderful settings of my heaven. The first time I can recall eating it was in Ranjit ka Dhabba, a Punjabi restaurant in a small suburb of Mumbai. But the best I have eaten is in Hyderabad. In Sahib Sindh Sultan. This restaurant is a tribute to Sahib, Sindh and Sultan the three engines which pulled the first train in India. It has waiters dressed as porters and maitre-de dressed as ticket collector. There is a whole coach of train waiting on the actual rails to serve as a dining car. Very very realistically made, with a hat left in the luggage rack overhead or an odd suitcase. The menu is named creatively like laughpathgamini bhatti ka tikka and lipta mushroom masala :-). For details check out this link (don’t go weak in your stomach)
http://www.foodiebay.com/ncr/restaurants/gurgaon/ambience-mall/sahib-sindh-sultan-2428#menutop
They had this Reshmi Murg tikka, and it melted in my mouth. It was so subtle and so soft that the moment you put it in your mouth, it dissolved with a sensation of something exotic. I never thought I could recreate that at home. Until a few days ago, i felt the urge to have it again. I looked at various recipes and then finally ended up with an amalgamation of what i thought would work best. The result was awesome. It might not be exactly what I had at Sahib, sind Sultan , but it was a close second. And more importantly now I had the POWER.. to eat it whenever I wanted.
So here I share with you my taste of heaven :-)
Enjoy and let me know if it can be perfected still.

Murg Malai Kebab (Reshmi Murg Tikka)

Ingredients
1/4 kgs chicken breast
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 pinch pepper pdr

1 Green chilli (add more depending on how spice you like it)
1cup coriander leaves
A pinch cardamom pdr
2 tbsp cheese
1 tbsp curd thick
1 tbsp Oil(optional)
1 pinch salt


Cut chicken breast to bite size pieces and remove any water from from by patting with a paper towel.
Mix it with pepper powder, squeezed ginger garlic paste. Keep aside for about half an hour. I generally did not time it so strigently. I started making the second marinade after this and let it soak till it the next step was done.

The second marination is the key. This is what will make the murg malai kebab distinct. Start by kneading some grated cheese by hand to make a paste . I used mozzarella. You could any, though not the ones with lots of flavor.
Add curd (biopot set yougurt works very well) and double cream. Make sure you knead out all the lumps. I think it is necessary to do this by hand because in food processor it will not be so thoroughly done.
Make a paste of chilli and coriander. I used mortal and pestle as I didn’t want to use water to make the paste.
Add that to the cheese /curd paste along with salt,oil(optional),cardamom pdr and mix well .

Marinate the chicken with this marination and put in the fridge. Now is the trick. Marinate it overnight. Yes you would need to silence the insistence of the heart to taste it…and let the marinade seep in overnight.

Next day put the pieces on to a skewer and put in the grill. You could do this in oven also. I would update this if I ever try it with oven. But grill has worked for me as of now.
It would take just 20-30 mins for it to be done on both sides.

Enjoy with some green chutney and onions.
There you have my taste of heaven on earth. And would love to know what is heaven for you on earth...

Should I Read Books

Should I be reading books? ..rarely does this thought come to me..Today I thought I may want to sit down and think about it.

Parents are generally worried about the extra-curricular activities of their child adversely affecting the academics. Mine worried about books overpowering books. For me, Nancy Drew came before Gulmohar English reader; Gone with the Wind challenged the basics of physics while Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy rivaled the bonding theories of Chemistry. History was understood with Freedom at Midnight and geography traversed with Jules Verne’s various adventures. The number of sleepless nights I have spent reading books legally beside a lamp and illegal under my blanket will far outstretch those spent on pretended studying. While the bulk of A Suitable Boy was unsuccessfully hidden between M.L.Khanna and ABC’s of Physics, the inevitable Mills&Boons were thin enough to be stowed away in notebooks and shared with classmates. I must thank J.K.Rowling for waiting till I was in engineering before she committed Harry Potter to print. Failing that I am not sure what vocation I might be pursuing now.

With a job came the liberty to buy books. Many afternoons were spent at the erstwhile second hand book market of Flora fountain in South Mumbai, gathering numerous treasures and layers of tan. The new life of was shared with the Agony and Ecstasy of Michelangelo’s creation long before I could admire the ceiling of Sistine Chapel with my own eyes. The days spent ‘on bench’ in an IT company were utilized wandering The Far Pavilions. Mumbai, my workplace became more than a city to me while reading Maximum City in the suburban train journeys. The city unfolded itself before me through the pages and enticed me to fall into an illicit affair with it.

Marriage was not untouched by books. Our relation was founded on an affinity for Satyajit Ray’s mysteries, nurtured on the opinions about the World Wars and blossomed with travel guides duly packed on vacations. Harry Potter and The Deadly Gallows almost cost me my marriage as it implored to be finished at one go, forsaking even my better half. Just a month back my teenage years were revived with the Twilight saga. I involuntarily kept smiling late into the night while sharing Bella and Edward’s challenges.

Changing times have changed my preferences of books. From exploring the secret passages with Enid Blyton to the tribulations of heart with Jane Austen to finally questioning the world through Non-fictions, reading may have come a full circle for me. To me books have been like a friend who when put on the shelf propelled my life even with its ‘back’ turned on me. But staring at each new foreword beckoning me to an imaginative world of letters versus the daily grind of living threatening me the question ‘Should I be Reading Books?’ becomes a redundant one.

Chicken Kebab
Ingredients
For Boiling
300 gms boneless chicken ( sliced into 2-3 inch slices)
2-3 cloves of garlic
½ inch ginger
3 big black cardamom
3-4 cloves
2-3 1 inch sticks of cinnamon
1-2 Bay leaves
1-2 leaves of javentri/mace
A few shavings of nutmeg

Green Chutney
2 cups coriander leaves
½ cup mint leaves
1-2 green chillis

Masala
2 medium sized onions sliced lengthwise
2tbsp - Garam Masala (any would do , but if you want a distinctive flavour you can dry grind the ingredients mentioned in the boiling part and use that)
½ cup chopped coriander
1 tbsp Amchur or Anardana powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp ground cumin powder
Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Bind all the item except the chicken given in the boiling section into a small piece of cloth. In a pressure cooked put this along with the chicken pieces and fill it with water.
Cook it for 2-3 whistles. I generally list the chicken rest in this mixture while i get all other items ready.

Grind the coriander, mint and chilli and keep aside.
In 2tbsp of oil fry the onions till they are dark pink in colour.

Take the chicken pieces out of the cooker and let then cool enough to allow you to add it to food processor. I know that actual chefs might balk at the thought of kebab out of boiled instead of minced meat. But this is the best way for me to make it at home. I do not much care for the kebabs available in UK. They are nowhere near to what I am used to. There are two kebab that I still dream about. One was Kakori Kebab I had in Sahib-Sind-Sultan in Hyderabad. It just melted in my mouth. Awesome. The second was a greenish type of kebab I had at Kareem’s in Bombay. Can’t remember its name. Anyways this will have to do for the time being :-).
Ok so process the chicken at very low speed in the food processor. If it becomes too flakes, add a little bit of stock (the boiled water we had left in the cooker) or the green chutney prepared earlier. It should be such after processing that it can bind together. I have seen my mom using channel daal (yellow split lentil) while boiling chicken to get this binding. Some also use cornflour. I have however not had any problem in getting the mixture to hold so I do not use any of this.
Now mix this processes chicken with all the items listed under masala and the fried onions. Adjust the salt. Make equal sized balls and then flatten them into tikkis .
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a skillet/ tawa or frying pan. Add the flattened balls and cook them on medium heat for 5-7 minutes on each side.
If needed garnish with onion rings and chat masala.