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| Scrumptious When I was in HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate, Class12)), my parents persuaded me to take Home science as one of my electives. I later realized its importance for a healthy life. In retrospect, it was a fruitful experience. Home Science included Physiology, Hygiene, needle work, laundry, cookery and housekeeping. Of all, cookery was my favorite. I found it interesting because we were learning from scratch. For example, we were taught to choose the right ingredients, clean, prepare them for cooking, deciding on the recipe and finally begin the process of cooking. After practicals, it wasn’t difficult to write down detailed notes including time-allotment for cooking each item, handling a specific recipe, knowing who you cook for, and lastly, serving style i.e. western or oriental. ----------- During the final cookery exams, each of us (we were just 12) was given certain variety of ingredients and was asked to prepare two items with them. I got rice and mutton. It was entirely my choice to decide the recipes. I chose Coconut rice and Mutton Kofta curry for two . It was a perfect combination, along with others’ preparations, for our teacher’s Birthday lunch on the same day. We were excited. Coconut rice Requirements- Rice - 1 cup Half of f fresh coconut. Method- Wash and keep the rice soaked in water. Soaking helps in removing starch. Remove the shell and cut the coconut into thin slices. Grind to a paste with a little water. Strain and keep the coconut milk aside. Take a pressure cooker. Add one and a half table spoons of an essential oil i.e, sesame, olive or groundnut. When heated, fry a ½ inch cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, 2 bay leaves and 2 cardamoms and nuts you like. A minute later, add one medium-sized chopped onion, slices of ½ of bell pepper and a few curry leaves. Fry till brown. Add one teaspoon of garlic-ginger paste. Stir. Simmer and add rice after draining the water. Mix all. Add a pinch of turmeric, salt per taste and a teaspoon of dry chili powder. Mix well. A bit later, add coconut milk and water, which together should measure up to 2 cups. Put some sliced tomato and squeeze half lemon in the pot before closing it with a lid that doesn’t leak. Let it cook on slow fire. After three whistles or 10 minutes, switch off. Open the lid after it cooled. Sprinkle a little chopped mint and coriander leaves. You will love the flavor and taste. -------------------- Prepare mutton Kofta (Kofta i.e. meat balls) curry on the side. Requirements- Mutton - half kilo. Cut to small pieces. Wash and drain. Grind and make a powder of the following items. Cashew nuts- 20 grams Coconut powder- 2 table spoons Roasted Bengal gram powder- 4 table spoons Keep it aside. To the mutton, add a chopped medium-sized onion, 1 table spoon of ginger-garlic paste, half teaspoon of basic garam masala powder made of 3 cardamoms, 5 cloves, an inch of cinnamon, chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves, 2 or three green chilies, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 1 teaspoon dry chili powder. Mix with mutton and grind them. Take the ground mutton out of the grinder, add the powder, prepared earlier. Mix well. Add 2 teaspoons of oil to mutton. This makes it easy to make meat balls without letting them break. Mix thoroughly with hand. Add a little salt. Make lemon- sized meat balls. They will swell after being put in the gravy. Kofta gravy- Slice two medium-sized onions into small pieces and grind to paste. Take 2 table spoons of cashew nuts and powder them. Put 2 teaspoons of curd or plain yogurt in the powdered cashew nuts and grind them to a paste. Make a puree with two tomatoes. Keep aside. Method- In a pan with two tablespoons oil, fry the onion paste. Add the paste of cashew and curd mix and fry well. Add tomato puree. Put a pinch of turmeric, salt and dry masala powder. After 5 minutes add 1and half of water and let it boil. Simmer, add meat balls. Put the fire off after the gravy thickens. A delicious meal is ready. Dropnote ▼ |
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