Welcome to Me

I am finally doing it, taking the plunge, going all out! I am starting my own cookery blog, its been long enough! I longed to have time to do this and only lately realized that I will never have that privilege. I am a mommy to an almost 5 year old human child and an almost 7 year old doggie child, both are a handful. I work full time, well almost, when you leave home at 8 am, then a day that ends at 4 pm, is as ‘full’ as a day can get. When that day gets over, all I can think of are my babies and my kitchen. The two joys that bring solace and peace to my otherwise hysterical soul. For me a perfect evening is when Andy (the husband) gets home in time, the kids have had play time and finished their workbooks, well at least the human one and I have a fresh, new meal bubbling in the kitchen. To me that’s heaven.

I have read and envied way too many food blogs and sites to stay still any longer. So for me, this is it! This is my Michael Jackson movie, except mine is meaty, garlicky and veers towards desserts more than occasionally. I am secretly (not so much now!!) in love with Jamie Oliver and Anthony Bourdain, though from what I know Tony is capable of pot roasting Jamie anyway! I don’t much care for Gordon Ramsay and I truly believe Nigella Lawson is my chef alter ego …though I don’t look anything like her…sadly! I used to enjoy watching Kylie (Kwong) cook till she started abusing the word ‘beautiful’ which actually happens to be one my favourite adjectives for food …but not anymore. I love all of these guys for something or the other and mainly because they promote good food, good eating and good living, all of which is essential for my personal sanity.

I also believe in moderation, however cliched it may sound. Everyone can eat everything and everyone should eat everything, again in moderation. So please pop that piece of chocolate in your mouth already, you know you’re going to hate yourself for not eating it …. and hate yourself for eating it …its a no win situation…eat up! So the objective of this blog is to promote food, all kinds of it. The other objective is to to get you cooking, its therapeutic, its makes people like you and its a great conversation starter. Believe me, its all I talk about… most of the time!

Last night we had Kerala style Beef Fry. Kerela is a coastal state in India, famous for its tag line “Gods own country”… from the way its landscaped, God certainly took a wee bit of extra interest in this one! Thanks to its coastal location, Kerala enjoys some of the best fish and seafood in India and I personally love their curries and stir fries. Some of the food is very akin to Far Eastern countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and even Thailand. I got this recipe off the internet and modified it to suit my family’s slightly more adventurous palette.

Shirazi Beef Chili

• 1 kg beef tenderloin cut into strips …about an inch long and half an inch thick
• 2 large onions sliced very thin
• Slivers of 6 garlic pods
• 2 inch thick clump of ginger…crushed with a rolling pin
• 6 slit green chillies
• 3 tbsp. Cooking oil

Marinade:

• 1 tsp. garam masala
  1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. cumin powder
• 1 tbsp. Apple cider vinegar (use wine vinegar if you like, I like it a bit sweetish)

Masala for cooking:

• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. cumin powder
• 1 tsp. Sugar
• 1 tbsp. Honey (try and look for organic fruit honeys, did you know that a beehive on a litchi tree will have litchi flavoured honey!)
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce (try Kikkoman …I love it!)
• 2 large potatoes, thinly sliced
• Salt to taste

Tempering:

•  1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 15 curry leaves
• 4 dry red chillies

Marinate the beef for a couple of hours. Heat the oil and fry the onions, ginger and garlic, till the onions are brown. I personally prefer to crush the garlic with the flat side of my knife rather than chop or use a press, ditto for ginger. Add the marinated beef; keep the flame on high till the juices from the beef cover the contents in the pan. Fry for 2-3 minutes and add the ‘masala’ for cooking, along with the green chillies. Stir, cover and cook on low for about 15 minutes. Make the tempering in a separate pan, heat oil, add the mustard seeds, wait for the crackling, add the red chillies and curry leaves, I like the curry leaves crispy so I tend to slightly overcook the tempering. Now back to the beef, add the soy sauce, honey and potatoes, cook for another 10 minutes on low, covered.  Check the meat for doneness …pop a piece in your mouth! Top this with the tempering before serving, toss it up…and enjoy.

We loved the dish, we had it with ‘dal’ and rice, though my dad would have had it with a garlicky potato mash and some whole wheat bread. I actually like having this with flat noodles and I dribble a little chilli sauce on it …just to give it a twangy finish.